The Past Six Years Have All Been the Hottest on Record in the Arctic

By Melody Schreiber on December 10, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

ARCTIC OCEAN Ð The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent ties up to the Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic Ocean Sept. 5, 2009. The two ships are taking part in a multi-year, multi-agency Arctic survey that will help define the Arctic continental shelf.

Arctic ice is quickly growing younger, thinner, and more fragile because of warmer temperatures caused by climate change.

Record-breaking temperatures are wreaking havoc upon the land and sea in the Arctic, according to the annual Arctic Report Card from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The report card was released Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco. NOAA first began releasing its annual peer-reviewed Arctic Report Card in 2006 to warn of rapid changes in the region and to highlight a few specific trends each year.

This year, the report focused upon extraordinary changes in the Bering Sea, particularly in the past two years. And for the first time, Indigenous residents of the Arctic presented their own perspectives directly in the report. Read more at ArcticToday.