The dynamic Beaufort Gyre (BG) is a dominant circulation feature centered over the Arctic’s Canada Basin (Fig. 1). Prevailing anticyclonic winds over the sea ice–ocean system drive this upper-ocean anticyclonic circulation as well as the accumulation and storage of both heat and fresh water, processes that influence climate in the Arctic and beyond [for example, (1–3)]. Relatively fresh surface ocean layers ensure a strong BG halocline that, below the mixed layer, is composed of ocean layers characterized by temperatures up to a few degrees warmer than the local freezing temperatures persist throughout the year. The halocline stratification strongly inhibits vertical heat fluxes from these warm layers (4). However, the fate of sea ice is acutely sensitive to changes in ocean heat flux of as little as 1 W m−2 (5).