Is Only the Wind Field Controlling the Maximum Sea Ice Area in the Bering Sea?

Over the past four decades, temporal variability in March sea ice area (SIA) within the Bering Sea occasionally contradicts prevailing northeasterly wind, raising doubt about the primary regulatory role of wind speed in governing maximum SIA. We argue that at least two spatial modes, extracted through the Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis, are necessary to explain the variations in the maximum SIA in the Bering Sea. Wind field emerges as the primary regulator of EOF1, governing both the direct influence of wind divergence (WD) and the indirect influence of meridional heat transport on sea ice. EOF2 is directly governed by ocean heat transport (OHT). Considering only the direct impact on sea ice, the OHT is directly responsible for the maximum SIA changes in 1995–2007, while in 2008–2014, the wind field is the largest driver. Since 2015, historically low SIA is attributed to significantly enhanced wind convergence and reduced zonal heat transport in the Gulf of Anadyr. Wind field directly controls the maximum SIA for less than half of the observation time, with OHT driving the rest. Declining trends observed in both WD and OHT suggests a future distribution pattern for the maximum SIA in the Bering Sea, characterized by an increase in the east and a decrease in the west. Long‐term retreat of sea ice on the western side of the Bering Sea is anticipated to exert significant impacts on local ecosystems, commercial activities, and even indigenous communities. Plain Language Summary Over the past 43 years, interpreting maximum sea ice area fluctuations in the Bering Sea involves understanding a combined response to wind field and ocean heat transport (OHT). Disentangling these processes is challenging due to the significant coupling between the ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice. We found that wind field, traditionally seen as the dominant force, directly impacts sea ice changes for less than 50% of the observation period. However, in view of the fact that OHT is susceptible to the influence of wind patterns, it can be concluded that wind field emerges as the primary modulating factor when indirect effects are taken into account. The characteristics of long‐term light ice years in the Bering Sea over the last 10 years are the result of the combined effects of enhanced wind convergence outside the Bering Sea continental shelf and reduced eastward heat transport in the Gulf of Anadyr. In addition, we also predicted the future distribution characteristics of sea i