Recent changes in the exchange of sea ice between the Arctic Ocean and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Sea ice is exchanged between the Arctic Ocean and Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) and exerts a considerable influence on regional ice conditions within the CAA but has not been quantified over long time periods. Using the Canadian Ice Service's Automated Sea Ice Tracking System with RADARSAT-1/2 imagery we estimated the sea ice area flux between the Arctic Ocean and CAA at the M'Clure Strait, Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) and Amundsen Gulf exchange gates from 1997-2012 for the months of May to November (MJJASON). Over the period, the M'Clure Strait gate imported 5x10³ km² (±11x10³ km²) of ice from the Arctic Ocean during the spring/summer months (MJJAS) and exported 7x10³ km² (±14x10³ km²) of ice to the Arctic Ocean during the fall months (ON); the QEI gates imported 7x10³ km² (±7x10³ km²) and 1x10³km² (±2x10³ km²) of ice from the Arctic Ocean during MJJAS and ON, respectively; the Amundsen Gulf gate exported 1x10³ km² (±4x10³ km²) and 2x10³ km² (±4x10³ km²) of ice to the Arctic Ocean during MJJAS and ON, respectively. Reduced net Arctic Ocean ice import at the M'Clure Strait gate during MJJAS was observed since 2007 while net Arctic Ocean ice import at the QEI gates continued. The latter observations were linked to anomalously high sea level pressure in the Beaufort Sea. Reduced Arctic Ocean ice import at the M'Clure Strait gate has contributed to overall lighter summer ice conditions in the CAA observed in recent years.