From extreme melt events to an influx of beaver colonies in Alaska, and rain falling at the summit of Greenland for the first time on record, the Arctic region showed clear symptoms of an ailing planet over the past year.
A report published on Tuesday, which serves as an annual physical for the Arctic, found this vast and significant biome is changing profoundly. It continues to warm twice as fast as the rest of the Earth and is rapidly losing ice cover, transforming from a reliably-frozen landscape to a greener and browner one than it was just around a decade ago.
More than 100 scientists authored the Arctic Report Card, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and examined changes in snow cover, sea ice volume, tundra vegetation, as well as surface air and ocean temperatures from October 2020 to September 2021.
The report also describes an increase in commercial activities and ships that are venturing further into the Arctic on sea routes opened up by melting ice. They bring more garbage and noise to the region, changing its soundscape and interfering with the ability of marine mammals to communicate.
Retreating glaciers and melting permafrost also threaten lives, economies and infrastructure.
"If you recognize that the Arctic really is the gateway to climate change, and that we need some means of taking a regular pulse check on how things are in that critical area, the report card represents, if you will, a bit of a snapshot," NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad told CNN.
"That's why it's important, just like going to your doctor for an annual physical," he added. "You want to get a consistent, comparable set of observations."
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