Newly released research has found that the amount of heat stored in a vast section of the Arctic Ocean has doubled over the last 30 years.
In a paper published today, Yale University researchers say they found deep layers of the Canada Basin are holding much more heat than they used to.
Author Mary-Louise Timmermans says vanishing sea ice in lower latitudes is allowing the sun to warm water there.
The water then moves further north into the Canada Basin west of the High Arctic Islands.
Timmermans says the stored heat could be thinning out one of the last areas of thick, multi-year ice.
Degrading that ice has unknown consequences for everything from the local ecosystem to weather developments in the south.