Arctic sea-ice loss is a consequence of anthropogenic global warming and can itself be a driver of climate change in the Arctic and at lower latitudes, with sea-ice minima likely favoring extreme events over Europe and North America. Yet the role that the sea-ice plays in ongoing climate change remains uncertain, partly due to a limited understanding of whether and how the exact geographical distribution of sea-ice loss impacts climate. Here we demonstrate that the climate response to sea-ice loss can vary widely depending on the pattern of sea-ice change, and show that this is due to the presence of an atmospheric feedback mechanism that amplifies the local and remote signals when broader scale sea-ice loss occurs. Our study thus highlights the need to better constrain the spatial pattern of future sea-ice when assessing its impacts on the climate in the Arctic and beyond.

北极海冰的损失是人为全球变暖的结果，它本身可以成为北极和低纬度地区气候变化的驱动力，海冰的极小值可能会助长欧洲和北美的极端事件。然而，海冰在持续的气候变化中所扮演的角色仍然不确定，部分原因是人们对海冰损失的确切地理分布是否以及如何影响气候的了解有限。在这里，我们证明了气候对海冰损失的响应会根据海冰变化的模式而变化很大，并表明这是由于大气反馈机制的存在，当更广泛的海域出现时，该机制会放大本地和远程信号-发生冰损失。