Conditions are likely only to worsen. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released Wednesday, reports that it is “virtually certain that the global ocean has warmed unabated since 1970” and warns that the extent of Arctic sea ice will continue to decline as air temperatures continue to warm.

We were among the biologists and weather scientists at the workshop trying to explain the changes, and warning that more changes may be coming. We talked about how sea ice in the region is melting earlier and forming later. The ice was so thin last winter that an unusual series of southerly storms shattered what little ice there was in February and March, far ahead of the normal schedule.

This anomalous weather was followed by the fourth-highest recorded amount of snowfall in Nome in over 100 years. Heavier snowfall may seem counterintuitive, but the ice-free ocean now allows the atmosphere to hold more precipitation. The Iditarod sled dog race, which ends in Nome, was complicated last winter because, although there was plenty of snow, there were stretches of open water that were usually frozen over.

Over past centuries, the temperature gradient at the edge of the sea ice near Nome was a signal to marine animals that food was plentiful. Melting ice provides nutrients that fuel plankton blooms when sunlight is sufficient for photosynthesis. This ice melt during warmer, sunny days provides a banquet of plankton for small fish, shellfish and baleen whales. Those whales and other marine creatures typically followed the retreating ice, feasting as they hugged the Alaska coastline.

Now whales often show up emaciated because the timing and extent of the ice melt has changed. The system is out of sync. The ice melt happens too early in the season, when shorter days and lack of sunlight are insufficient to nourish the algae blooms.