The End of the Road for a Cold Arctic: Arctic Report Card 2020 Highlights & Lowlights: Part 1 of 3

Arctic Report Card 2020 (ARC2020):
Result: FAIL
Summary: Out with the Cold; in with the Hot
Consequences: Dire

1) Average annual land surface air temperature north of 60 degrees for October 2019 - September 2020 was the second highest on record since at least 1900.

2) Sea ice loss in Spring 2020 was particularly early in the east Siberian Sea and Laptev Sea regions; end of summer sea ice melt extent was second lowest behind 2012.

3) August mean sea surface temperatures in 2020 were 1 to 3 degrees C warmer than the 1982-2010 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.

4) During July and August 2020, regional ocean primary productivity in the Laptev Sea was 2 times higher for July and 6 times higher for August compared to their respective monthly averages.

5) Bowhead whale populations increased due to increased in ocean primary productivity.

6) Shifts in air temperatures, storminess, sea ice and ocean conditions have combined to increase coastal erosion rates circumventing the Arctic.

7) Exceptional warm Spring air temperatures across Siberia resulted in record low June snow cover extent across the Eurasian Arctic.

8) Extreme wildfires in 2020 in the Sakha Republic of northern Russia coincided with unparalleled warm air temperatures and record snow loss in the region.

9) Tundra greenness trends diverged strongly with a sharp decline in North America and rise above long-term average in Eurasia.

10) Greenland Ice Sheet experienced higher ice loss than 1981-2010 average, but substantially lower than record 2018/19 loss.

11) Glaciers and ice sheets outside of Greenland have continued a trend of significant ice loss, dominated largely by ice loss from Alaska and Arctic Canada.

Lots more in video.

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