"The Arctic continues to rapidly evolve, shaped by past and ongoing human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and push the broader Earth system into uncharted territory. Now in its 18th edition, this year’s Arctic Report Card (ARC2023) provides an updated annual view into the state of the Arctic by checking in on key Vital Signs—eight defining elements of the Arctic’s climate and environmental system. ARC2023 also samples critical and emerging Arctic topics, bringing into focus diverse collections of observations that help to assess the trajectory and impacts of Arctic change. Figure 1 locates some of these events in the pan-Arctic perspective and Fig. 2 is provided as a convenient place name reference.
This year’s physical and biological Vital Sign observations are in line with trends reported in past Arctic Report Cards—warming sea surface and surface air temperatures, decreasing snow cover, diminishing sea ice, both in spatial extent and thickness, and continued mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Year-to-year variations, in addition to long-term trends, are significant and can be especially important at regional scales.
Extreme weather and climate events during the past year in the Arctic and elsewhere have brought unambiguous, climate change-supercharged impacts to people and ecosystems. Such events vary in scale across time and space. In the span of a few hours, individual storms may create hardships and damage that last for years. Longer-term extremes, such as drought or prolonged high temperatures, also have direct, distinct impacts, produce cascading effects in other parts of the environment, and may exacerbate (or mitigate) shorter time frame weather extremes.."
Arctic Report Card
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