Part of this effort involves computer models in which we represent flows within the Arctic ocean along with sea ice and snow on top. Differences in ice thickness are shown throughout the Arctic as well as at the 29 submarine stations. Wind patterns are always changing. Usually winds over the Arctic swirl in a clockwise pattern. Averaged over the latter three cruises relative to the earlier five cruises, the difference windstress pattern swirls counterclockwise.
Ice tends to move a little to the right of the windstress.
This is why submarine surveys mainly in the central Arctic in the 1990s did not find the ice. Overall the possible impact of global warming appears to play a minor role in changes to Arctic sea ice. A caution must be included. In their details, the projections are surely mistaken. The pattern of thinning agrees with the submarine data only grossly but not in detail.