Scientists from the United States, Russia, Canada, Poland, Germany and Norway believe that as time goes by, the Arctic Ocean will eventually look like the Atlantic Ocean. An article to this effect was published in the Science Magazine.

Researchers paid attention to the vertical mixing of water in the Eurasian basin of the Arctic Ocean, which ultimately will end up looking like what is happening in the ice free parts of the Atlantic. The reason for such a similarity, according to the experts, is a sharp decrease in ice covered areas in the Arctic Ocean in the summer. In particular, almost the entire eastern part of the Eurasian basin was free from ice in the late summer of 2011.

The article calls this phenomenon weakened stratification, when the smaller ice thickness contributes to greater water mixing.

The researchers came to such a conclusion, having traced the changes that take place in the two oceans. They used satellite data obtained between 2013 and 2015 and information from buoys operating in the Arctic. With their help, the scientists managed to assess how thick the ice was.

According to the authors of the article, the changes underway in the Arctic Ocean directly affect the ecosystem of the Arctic.