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We present a comparison of Arctic Ocean hydrographic data sets from the 1990s, with a focus on changes in the upper few hundred meters of the Eurasian Basin. The most recent observations discussed here were collected during the spring 1995 Scientific Ice Expedition (SCICEX'95), the second in a series of scientific cruises to the Arctic Ocean aboard U.S. Navy nuclear submarines. Although the 1990s have seen an abundance of synoptic cruises to the Arctic, this was the only one to take place in winter/spring conditions. Other data considered here were collected during the first SCICEX cruise in summer 1993 (SCICEX'93) and during an icebreaker cruise to the Eurasian Basin in summer 1991 (Oden'91). A new Russian‐American winter climatology is also used as a reference. These comparisons reveal that the Eurasian Basin “cold halocline layer” has retreated during the 1990s to cover significantly less area …