Ice shove

The mere fact that the Ringed seal is uniquely adapted to utilizing ice shoves for breathing holes, and that polar bears have adapted to this behaviour for hunting, as well as the fact that the Iñupiat have a distinct term for the phenomena, indicates that ice shoves are a regular and continuing phenomena in the Arctic.

[4] When temperatures decrease, ice contracts and forms stress fractures; water then seeps into these tension cracks and freezes.

If this ice sheet is in contact with a shoreline, it can exert considerable force on the land, causing the displacement of shore material.

When temperatures rise at sufficient rates (~1 °C/hr for upwards of 5 hours), the ice sheet expands onto land.

[5] Studies have shown that the formation of landfast ice is starting to form later and breakup earlier in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

More open water days increase the likelihood of destructive coastal events like ice shoves in these regions.

Open waters lead to longer wind fetch, which in turn produces more energetic waves near coastal zones, increasing fast ice erosion.

[13][14] The loss of sea ice directly results in a lower surface albedo and thus higher Arctic temperatures.

Ice shoves can still occur when there are ice-free summers in the Arctic, which studies suggest can happen occasionally as soon as 2050.

Arctic sea ice decline is also linked to the slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) due to fresh water and temperature anomalies.

This change could potentially give more favourable conditions for ice shove events to occur at mid-latitudes, though no research has been done on this subject.