Seaicesailor,
Indeed it is a fine and brief paper, in fact even better if you read it in conjunction with this paper:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qj.1876/full ,
which covers a similar phenomenon in the Barents Sea some years ago, but with an entirely atmospheric perspective.
My take on the whole “GAC-2016” thing is that both atmosphere and ocean/sea ice will have to work together in order to come up with an unprecedented melting event this year:
1) After a mild winter and a windy summer, the ice in the Arctic is now fragmented and well spread out
2) After an excessive warm year globally, the SST anomalies around the Arctic are now extremely positive and the inflow of warm salty water has been at a maximum
3) After a calm and dull July (no jet stream pertubations to speak of), the stratification of Artic water masses is now well developed and the pycnocline is near the surface
4) On the back of a conventional low entering the Arctic this weekend, a new Persistent Arctic Cyclone (PAC-2016) is just about to develop
5) The centre of the low will most likely position itself over a major ice island in the Arctic Ocean/perhaps the one over the Mendelejef Ridge
6) The low will intensify through the release of heat from condensation in a number of spiral bands (similar to the recent Hudson Bay cyclone)
7) The maximum wind speeds will occur over the Canadian Basin, and sporadic ice floes will help to set up a strong Ekman pumping of warm water from below
The cyclone will maintain itself as long as the supply of warm water from below continues, i.e. as long as it stays away from the shores and the main ice pack near the N Pole
9) Bottom melt will explode, when ice floes are driven by the wind over newly lifted, warm, salty waters; waves will batter the sides; sea spray will fill the air; and drizzle will erode the top surfaces of remaining floes
10) In a couple of weeks, we will see whether a new record minima in sea ice volume, - extent and - area will have materialized themselves as predicted.