For the first time on record, a gaping hole has opened in the Arctic's so-called "Last Ice" — a region of thick, old sea ice north of Ellesmere Island that was thought to be too resilient for such features. The opening, known as a polynya, stretched 62 miles in length and 18 miles in width just a day after it was first spotted in May of the previous year, according to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The discovery was detailed by a team led by Kent Moore, an Arctic researcher at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, and announced via a press release from the American Geophysical Union. Moore noted that no polynya had ever been observed in this area before. "North of Ellesmere Island it's hard to move ice around or melt it just because it's thick, and there's quite a bit of it. So, we generally haven't seen polynyas form in that region before," he said.
Polynyas are areas of open water surrounded by sea ice, often created when strong winds push ice apart. What startled researchers is that the Last Ice — which holds the Arctic's thickest and oldest ice — could be moved so easily. Moore and his colleagues attribute the hole to extreme wind conditions, but they also suggest that the ice's unusual vulnerability may be a sign of broader warming.
Why the Last Ice Is No Longer Immovable
The study's authors point to a feedback mechanism: as ice thins, it becomes more susceptible to being pushed around by winds, which in turn makes polynya formation easier. "The thing about thinning ice is that it's easier to move it around," Moore explained. "As the ice gets thinner, it's easier to create these polynyas with less extreme forcing, so there is some evidence that these polynyas may become more common, or become larger, than they were in the past."
This feedback loop is a growing concern among climate scientists, as it could accelerate ice loss in a region that was once considered a stable refuge for ice-dependent species. The Last Ice is often viewed as a potential sanctuary for Arctic wildlife, but the appearance of a polynya there undermines that assumption.
The finding was published in May, and the timing of the polynya's appearance — during a period of intense wind events — raises questions about how often such openings could occur under future climate conditions. While the study does not predict a specific timeline, it underscores that even the most robust Arctic ice is not immune to change.
Researchers stress that this is a single event, but it aligns with broader trends of declining sea ice thickness and extent across the Arctic. The study adds to a growing body of evidence that the region is entering a new state, where extreme events like this polynya could become part of the norm.