Study Observes What Happens to Ocean and Sea Ice When Cyclone Hits Written by AZoCleantechApr 30 2021 A huge storm on par with a Category 2 hurricane was hit the Arctic Ocean in August 2016. The cyclone resulted in the third-lowest sea ice extent that has been recorded so far. The Korean icebreaker Araon, which unexpectedly found itself in an Arctic cyclone in 2016, unlocked the key to how these storms wreak havoc on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Image Credit: Joo-Hong Kim, Korea Polar Research Institute. However, the closeness of the Korean icebreaker Araon is what made the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2016 especially attractive to researchers. For the very first time, researchers were able to observe precisely what happens to the ocean and sea ice during a cyclone.