The Arctic Ocean has a relatively low surface salinity compared to other oceans, due to the large amount of river runoff it receives. This results in a very strong stratification of the upper Arctic Ocean, which limits the vertical heat flux from the warm Atlantic water at depth to the mixed layer and allows the existence of multi-year sea ice. Changes in the pathways of freshwater (FW) from different sources (river runoff, Bering Strait inflow, net precipitation, and sea-ice melt), however, can change the strength of this stratification, with important implications for the sea-ice cover in the affected regions. FW pathway changes can also lead to changes in the magnitude and pathway (Fram Strait versus the Canadian Arctic Archipelago) of the FW export from the Arctic, which can affect the rate of deep water formation in the northern North Atlantic, with possible far-reaching climatic effects. We first present the climatological FW pathways in the Arctic Ocean, deduced from model results from the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) and observational tracer data from Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. This is followed by an analysis of the variability of FW pathways in the Arctic Ocean in response to changes in the large-scale atmospheric forcing. A better understanding of the variability of Arctic FW pathways is important to estimate changes in nutrient and contaminant transports in the Arctic Ocean as well as possible changes in the deep water formation in the northern North Atlantic.