What's New
These graphs show the January and February surface air temperature anomaly averaged over the Arctic area (66–90°N) based on NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis. Units are in °Celsius.
Right from the beginning of 2016 new records have been set in the Arctic: warmest air temperature on record in both January and February, and the lowest sea ice cover in February. The average temperature anomaly has reached a record of 5.6°C (10.08°F) for January and 4.5°C (8.1°F) for February. This is the warmest period in the Arctic for these two consecutive months since 1948. The Arctic sea ice extent for February 2016 averaged 14.2 million square kilometers (5.5 million square miles), the lowest February extent in the satellite record. Once Arctic scientists at PMEL put this past January and February into historical perspective, they saw that this unusual warmth is unprecedented in both months. This unprecedented warmth is mainly due to the large positive temperature anomalies in the Arctic Ocean and over the North American continents. This year’s record high temperature and low sea ice cover increases concerns about what will happen next in the Arctic and globally.
Read the full story on NOAA Arctic theme page.
PMEL in the News
Wasn’t it just yesterday that we learned January was the hottest month in recorded history? Not anymore. The official numbers aren’t in for February yet, but meteorologists are already calling it: Last month destroyed January’s global temperature record, adding another 0.2 to 0.3 degrees Celsius
The deepest spot on Earth is a surprisingly noisy place, scientists from Oregon discovered when they lowered a hydrophone almost seven miles below the ocean surface into the Challenger Deep. Listen to what they found.
Feature Publication
Ocean Climate Station Papa is a time series site located in the eastern subarctic Pacific where atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean. A moored buoy has been measuring the carbon content of both the surface ocean and surface atmosphere, along with numerous other oceanic and meteorological parameters, at this site for approximately 9 years. This area is notorious for having consistently low chlorophyll levels (a proxy for marine algae) and high concentrations of organisms that... more