Abstract
Rapid Arctic warming and decline in sea ice have been observed in recent
decades. These trends will likely continue, potentially changing winter
extremes elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. We use coordinated Polar
Amplification Model Intercomparison Project (PAMIP) experiments to
decompose the Northern Hemisphere winter cold temperature responses to
future Arctic sea-ice loss and sea surface temperature (SST) change,
separately, at 2C global mean warming. Cold extremes (20-year return
period) will generally become warmer at high- and mid-latitudes due to
Arctic sea-ice loss, with the largest warming in East Canada. SST change
will warm cold extremes everywhere, overwhelming simulated sea
ice-induced cooling responses in, e.g., southwestern United States. In
general, the SST-induced changes dominate over sea ice-induced changes,
with exceptions in East Canada, Nunavut (Canada) and North Pacific
Russia. Our results suggest that if climate models do not adequately
capture the sea-ice and SST components, cold extremes will be biased.