The NOAA-led Arctic Report Card 2014 was released today. In 2014, rising air and sea temperatures continued to trigger changes in the Arctic.
The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of anywhere else on Earth. However, natural variation remains, such as the slight increase in March 2014 sea ice thickness and only a slight decrease in total mass of the Greenland ice sheet in summer 2014.
The warming Arctic atmosphere was strongly connected to lower latitudes in early 2014, with cold air outbreaks into the eastern USA and warm air intrusions into Alaska and northern Europe. Arctic warming conditions are impacting polar bear conditions, northern hemisphere snow cover, sea surface temperatures and primary productivity, tundra and the Greenland ice sheet.
The annual Arctic Report Card tracks recent environmental changes, with 10 essays in 2014 prepared by an international team of 63 scientists from 13 different countries and an independent peer-review organized by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme of the Arctic Council. Read more...