Climatologists have been observing a pattern of increasingly retreating Arctic sea ice for years, and this trend appears to be disrupting ocean currents on a global scale.

According to a new study published in Nature Climate Change, the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic has been slowing down due to less sea ice, resulting in less warm tropical water being drawn up toward Western Europe. This phenomenon could result in a cooling of the region in the future.

Typically, the Gulf Stream drags warm water north toward Western Europe, where it sheds moisture and heat, effectively moderating climate in region. After losing its heat, the colder, denser water sinks to the bottom of the North Atlantic and heads south toward tropics, where the cycle (referred to as Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation) commences all over again.

In the new study, researchers found that receding sea ice has led to less heat exchange, less sinking of cooled Gulf Stream waters, and a slowing of the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation.

"What we think is actually happening is – we're slowing down this large conveyor belt in the ocean," study author G.W.K. Moore, a climatologist at the University of Toronto Mississauga, recently told redOrbit via Skype. "It's this slowing down of the conveyor that is going to potentially impact Europe."

To reach their conclusions, the researchers developed a mixed-layer ocean model based on data collected from 1958 to 2014 by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The team found the retreat of winter sea ice in the region, along with various rates of warming for the atmosphere and sea surface of the Greenland and Iceland seas, has triggered reductions of around 20 percent in the magnitude of annual winter heat exchange since 1979.