The sustained transformation to a warmer and biologically changed Arctic remains clear In past 15 years

NOAA's 15th Arctic Report Card catalogs for 2020 the numerous ways that climate change continues to disrupt the polar region, with second-highest air temperatures and second-lowest summer sea ice driving a cascade of impacts, including the loss of snow and extraordinary wildfires in northern Russia.

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The sustained transformation to a warmer, less frozen and biologically changed Arctic remains clear Extreme warm air temperatures in the Eurasian Arctic illustrate significant region-wide effects of year-to-year variability and connections across the Arctic environment.

Highlights

·The average annual land surface air temperature north of 60° N for October 2019-September 2020 was the second-highest on record since at least 1900. Record warm temperatures in the Eurasian Arctic were associated with extreme conditions in the ocean and on the land.

In the oceans

· Sea ice loss in spring 2020 was particularly early in the East Siberian Sea and Laptev Sea regions, setting new record lows in the Laptev Sea for June. The end of summer sea ice extent in 2020 was the second-lowest in the 42-year satellite record, with 2012 being the record minimum year.

· August mean sea surface temperatures in 2020 were ~1-3°C warmer than the 19822010 August mean over most of the Arctic Ocean, with exceptionally warm temperatures in the Laptev and Kara seas that coincided with the early loss of sea ice in this region.