The annual update of the Arctic Report Card summarizes the quickly changing conditions in the Arctic. Support for the Arctic Report Card is provided by the NOAA Climate Program Office through the Arctic Research Program.

The Arctic region continued to break records in 2012 - among them, the loss of summer sea ice, late spring snow cover, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet - as the region settles into a new state. This was true even though air temperatures in the Arctic were unremarkable relative to the last decade.

Major findings include record lows in snow and Arctic sea ice extent, record setting glacier and Greenland ice sheet melt, and greening of the tundra, with varied impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

The record-breaking year also indicates that it is unlikely that conditions can quickly return to their former state.

Support for the Arctic Rediscovery Project is provided by North Pacific Research Board (NPRB). Many partners and collaborators have made indispensible contributions to the project.

NOAA and the U.S. National Archives are teaming with Old Weather and thousands of citizen volunteers to transcribe climate data from historical ship logbooks into modern digital formats that can be used to extend modern global climate data sets to earlier times in order to better understand the climate of today.

You can help! Sign up at http://www.oldweather.org/

The Arctic Rediscovery website includes a gallery of photos revealing fascinating details of life on historical ships in the Bering Sea/Arctic, related student projects, and other resources.

Animated images of the 2012 North Pole Web Cam. Video provided by NOAA PMEL.

¹ National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

The 2012 North Pole web cam was deployed on an ice floe at the North Pole in Summer 2012 as part of the North Pole Environmental Observatory. The web cam images track North Pole snow cover, weather conditions, and the status of the weather and ice instruments seen in the camera images.

As reported by the NSIDC¹, on August 26, 2012 Arctic sea ice extent reached the lowest value observed during the satellite record. Following that low, Arctic sea ice extent continued to drop falling below 4 million square kilometers by September 5. Compared to September conditions in the 1980's and 1990's, this represents a 45% reduction in the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by sea ice¹.

Arctic Sea ice extent. From NSIDC¹.

¹ National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

The NSIDC¹ reports that Arctic sea ice extent has broken the 2007 record low. Nearly a month before the Arctic sea ice extent usually reaches its minimum at the end of summer, the August 26, 2012 daily extent appears to be the lowest in the satellite record, less than the previous low observed on September 18, 2007. Sea ice extent is expected to continue to diminish until the middle of September.

Arctic Sea ice extent for 9/18/2007 (left) and 8/26/2012 (right). From NSIDC¹.

The SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook is an international forum for discussions of monthly estimates of the September arctic sea ice minimum.

The 2012 focus is on expanding discussion of ice thickness and the relative performance of different Outlook techniques, and improving access to relevant outlook data.

"Arctic sea ice extent declined quickly in July ... [and] for a brief period in early July, nearly all of the Greenland ice sheet experienced surface melt, a rare event."¹ "Sea ice extent dropped rapidly between August 4 and August 8. While this drop coincided with an intense storm over the central Arctic Ocean, it is unclear if the storm prompted the rapid ice loss."² Overall,there have been no consistent Arctic Ocean weather patterns through the summer of 2012.²

With 23 responses, The August Sea Ice Outlook, based on July data, projects a September 2012 Arctic sea extent median value of 4.3 million km², below the July estimate, and equal to the 2007 record September minimum extent.³

The consensus is for continued low values of September sea ice extent.

¹ National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
² National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
³ Sea Ice Outlook

The SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook is an international forum for discussions of monthly estimates of the September arctic sea ice minimum.

The 2012 focus is on expanding discussion of ice thickness and the relative performance of different Outlook techniques, and improving access to relevant outlook data.

"Arctic sea ice extent declined quickly in June, setting record daily rates for a brief period in the middle of the month. Strong ice loss in the Kara, Bering, and Beaufort seas, and Hudson and Baffin bays, led the overall retreat. Northern Hemisphere snow extent was unusually low in May and June, continuing a pattern of rapid spring snow melt seen in the past six years," according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

With 21 responses, the July Sea Ice Outlook, based on June data, projects a September 2012 arctic sea extent median value of 4.6 million km², with all 2012 estimates continuing to be well below the 1979-2007 September mean of 6.7 million km².

The second-most cumulative sea ice loss in the satellite record (since 1979) occured in June 2012, and there were cases of early melt in some regions. The culprit for the rapid sea ice loss in early June was again the presence of the Arctic Dipole (AD) pressure pattern, but the pattern shifted towards the end of the month and ice loss slowed.

The consensus is for continued low values of September sea ice extent

With 19 responses, the June Sea Ice Outlook projects a September 2012 arctic sea extent median value of 4.4 million km².

This Outlook differs from all previous Outlooks in that there are no projections of extent greater than 5.0, and all 2012 estimates are well below the 1979-2007 September mean of 6.7 million km². The consensus is for a continued downward trend of September sea ice.

It seems that the time may have come to declare that the arctic sea ice has in fact reached a "New Normal." The physical justification for this statement is based primarily on the loss of old, thick sea ice and the increased mobility of sea ice. Sea ice extent in mid-June 2012 is lower than the record-setting year 2007.

An expanded discussion of sea ice age and thickness is included in the full June report, which includes new sea ice thickness data from NASA IceBridge aircraft flights in March-April 2012.

Call for 2012 Sea Ice Outlook Contributions
May 14, 2012

The first Call for Sea Ice Outlook Contributions has been released for the 2012 season, with submissions for the June report (based on May data) due Jun 4, 2012.

The SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook is an international project that provides a monthly synthesis of estimates of the September arctic sea ice minimum. The intent of is not to issue predictions, but rather to summarize all available data and observations to providethe best available information on the evolution of arctic sea ice.

Perceptions of Arctic Change
April 10, 2012

Polar science faces a conundrum: recent years have brought massive advances in understanding the polar systems, yet misconceptions of polar climate science have become a matter of concern with decision makers.

In order to address the current situation, the Perceptions of Arctic Change session at the IPY2012 Conference brings together media, climate scientists, historians of science, and social and political scientists, including Bob Corell, Andy Revkin and E. Conway.

Large Eddy observed in SE Bering Sea
March 27, 2012

A large eddy has been observed SW of St. George Island in the Pribilof Islands in the SE Bering Sea that is moving ice from the shallow continental shelf into deeper water. The eddy is approximately 10-15 miles across.

Winter 2012 is one of the most severe with near-record sea ice extent in the Bering Sea.

PMEL's EcoFOCI program will put out instrumentation this year, as soon as the ice retreats. PMEL scientist Carol Ladd is conducting research to better understand the mechanisms for these types of eddies, which transport nutrients and biological organisms.

In memory of Norbert Untersteiner (1926-2012)
March 20, 2012

The Arctic community lost a major figure in the field when Professor Norbert Untersteiner passed away on the morning of March 14, 2012. We will miss his zest for life, his sense of humor, his spirit, his wit, his wisdom, and his passion for the Arctic.

Norbert was very excited about the "extraordinary value of of the web cam pictures" following the deployment of web cams at the North Pole, which provided Arctic scientists their first opportunity to observe Arctic snow conditions throughout the sunlit summer months. He looked at the images constantly and wrote two short essays based on the web cam observations in the Arctic summers of 2003 and 2004.

For more information and to share your memories of Norbert, please visit the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory website.

Ice extent low in Arctic, high in Bering Sea
National Snow & Ice Data Center
February 29, 2012

The National Snow & Ice Data Center reports that although Arctic sea ice extent remained lower than average in January, the Bering Sea ice extent was the second highest in the satellite record for the month of January, impeding winter fishing in the Bering sea, and slowing an important fuel resupply mission to Nome, on the west coast of Alaska.

The unusually heavy ice conditions in the Bering Sea stemmed from a weather pattern that brought cold air from the Arctic into the Bering Sea, driving sea ice southwards.