The Arctic is getting warmer each year, according to NOAA, and 2017 is the second warmest year in history (just behind the record-setting year of 2016). Not only is the air temperature heating up, but so is the average ocean temperature, resulting in an increasing loss of sea ice. Indeed, a new NOAA report said the current rate of decline of sea ice and the rise in temperature are higher than any time in the past 1,500 years.
All of this is in NOAA’s Arctic Report Card, now in its 12th year, that is reviewed by 85 scientists form 12 nations. The Report Card was issued in print and in a video, below.
Other major findings: Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at twice the rate of temperatures in the rest of the world; maximum winter sea ice, measured each March, was the lowest ever observed; and snow cover in the Northern American Arctic was below average for the 11th of the past 12 years. The only possible good news is that there has been an increase in the growth of marine plant life across the Arctic since the retreating sea ice allows more sunlight to penetrate the upper layer of the ocean.
