2022 Arctic Report Card: Arctic Becoming Warmer, Wetter and with More Extreme Weather

News Briefing: 14 December 2022

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released their 17th annual “Arctic Report Card,” bringing together 150 authors from across the world to assess the current state of the Arctic. Key findings include that rising global emissions are transforming the Arctic into a warmer and wetter environment. Air temperatures in 2022 were the sixth warmest on record since 1900, with the ten warmest years all occurring this past decade. Sea ice is thinning even faster than projected, and thick multi-year sea ice remains scarce. Length of the snow season (especially in spring) has declined by nearly 20% per decade, and the North American Arctic saw its second-lowest snow cover last year since records began more than 50 years ago, while the Eurasian Arctic saw its third lowest snow cover. Increasing rainfall rather than snow dominates precipitation across large regions of the Arctic, transforming previously snow-rich regimes in East Greenland, Svalbard, Norway and the central Arctic. The Greenland Ice Sheet experienced its 25th consecutive year of ice loss in 2022. At the peak of an unprecedented September heatwave over Greenland, more than one third of the ice sheet’s total surface was melting. Extreme weather in the Northern Hemisphere – including heavy rainstorms, wildfires and droughts – are increasing in frequency, and the impact of these events can be disastrous. To limit these harmful consequences on Arctic communities and beyond, the report states that it is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2022