arctic air temp.jpeg
The arctic had its warmest year on record in 2016. The image shows the difference in temperatures from average for the October 2015 - September 2016 period.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Unprecedented global warming in 2016 inflicted detrimental effects to the arctic, triggering a massive decline in sea-ice and snow cover extent, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Since January of this year, the average global temperature was 1.69 degrees above the average 57.2 degrees, bypassing the previous record-hot year in 2015 by 0.13 degrees.
These warm global temperatures contributed to a "record-breaking delay in fall sea-ice freeze up, leading to extensive melting of the Greenland ice sheet and land-based snow cover," according to the report.
But that's not all of the negative effects climate change has instigated in the arctic recently. Check out highlights from the Arctic Report Card this year.
1. Declining ice mass in Greenland
Since 2002 when satellite-based measurement began over Greenland, the ice sheet has continually lost mass. This year, the start of the melting of this ice in the spring was the second earliest in the 37-year record of observations, very close to the top record set in 2012.
Monthly change in the total mass (in giga-tonnes) of the Greenland Ice Sheet between April 2002 and April 2016, based on GRACE satellite data. The ice sheet lost an average of 268 gigatonnes per year from 2002 to 2016. NOAA Climate.gov graph adapted from Figure 3.4 in the 2016 Arctic Report Card. Background photo from NASA P3-Orion aircraft.
2. Warmer air temperature
This year's average annual air temperature over land, 58.89 degrees, was highest since the start of the observational record, representing a 6.3-degree Fahrenheit increase since 1900. Arctic air temperatures are still increasing at double the rate of global air temperatures.
Yearly temperatures (degrees Celsius) since 1900 compared to the 1981-2010 average for the Arctic (orange line) and the globe (gray). NOAA Climate.gov map based on NCEP reanalysis data from NOAA's Earth System Research Lab. Graph adapted from Figure 1.1 in the 2016 Arctic Report Card.
3. Record-breaking low snow cover extent
The spring snow cover extent, the surface area over which is covered with snow, set a record-low areal coverage in the North American arctic, and the May snow cover extent fell below 1.5 million square miles for the first time since the satellite observations began in 1966.
North American and Greenland snow cover extent, 1966 through 2016.
4. Record-breaking low sea-ice
Since the record began in 1979, the arctic sea-ice minimum extent (the minimum percent area of the ocean covered with ice) from mid-October to late November, was the lowest; 28 percent less than the average since 1981.
But it's not just about areal extent, it has to do with volume too. Arctic ice continues to thin, with multi-year ice (ice that's been in one location for multiple years) only compromising 22 percent of the total ice cover, as compared to 78 percent of fragile, first-year ice. In 1985, multi-year ice accounted for 45 percent of total ice cover.
The age of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean at winter maximum in March 1985 (left) compared with March 2016 (right). The darker the blue, the younger the ice. The first age class on the scale (1, darkest blue) means "first-year ice," which formed in the most recent winter. The oldest ice (7+, white) is ice that is more than seven years old. Historically, most of the ice pack was many years old. Today, only a fraction of that very old ice reamins. NOAA Climate.gov maps, based on NOAA/NASA data provided by Mark Tschudi.
5. Above-average arctic ocean temperatures
The average sea-surface temperature in August 2016 was 9 degrees above the normal for August 1982-2010 in the Barents and Chukchi seas and off the east and west coasts of Greenland.
Barents and Chukchi sea.
More on the changes in the arctic in 2016:
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Kelly Reardon is cleveland.com's meteorologist. Please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @kreardon0818.