Arctic Report Card celebrates 20 years

Arctic Report Card celebrates 20 years

The 20th edition of the Arctic Report Card, published this week, continues to serve as a record of persistent and extraordinary warming in the North. As has been the case since its inception in 2006, University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers contributed essays documenting the changing Arctic.

"The annual update, year after year, allows the Arctic Report Card to cover a wide variety of topics, much more than could ever appear in a single report," said Rick Thoman, Alaska climate specialist at UAF Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness and one of the report's three editors. The reports serve as a trustworthy record of Arctic climate trends, Thoman said.

Released by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, the 2025 Arctic Report Cardcovers October 2024 to September 2025 - the annual period that aligns with the natural water cycle. During the 2024-2025 water year, temperatures across the Arctic were the warmest since at least 1900, continuing the long-term trend.

Spring 2025 set a record high for spring precipitation, and the year ranked among the top five wettest for all other seasons since 1950. According to the report, the Arctic's atmosphere is now more moisture-laden, and extreme precipitation events are more frequent.

Those events include atmospheric rivers that can deliver heavy rain or snow to large regions. For example, the January 2025 atmospheric river that brought heavy precipitation to Alaska contributed to an overall Arctic winter with more extreme precipitation events than any other season.

Warm ocean conditions this fall set the stage for ex-Typhoon Halong, which devastated communities on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The Arctic Report Card emphasized the need for "climate-resilient infrastructure and adequate disaster response capabilities" as these types of events become more common.

Alaska glaciers have lost, on average, 125 vertical feet of ice since the mid-20th century, more glacial ice loss than any other region in the Arctic. This is contributing to sea level rise and threatening communities through destructive glacial outburst floods, greater tsunami risk and frequent landslides.

Northern Alaska is also experiencing an increase in the bizarre phenomenon known as "rusting rivers." Iron and other elements released by thawing permafrost have turned over 200 pristine Alaska rivers and streams orange over the past decade. These waterbodies are more acidic and have elevated levels of toxic metals, which could threaten fish habitat and drinking water in rural communities.

Fish species found in the Chukchi and northern Bering seas are shifting due to warming bottom waters, declining sea ice and rising chlorophyll. This change is affecting Arctic food security and Indigenous subsistence practices.

Tracking and documenting these expansive changes in Alaska and across the Arctic requires dozens of scientists. UAF contributors to the 2025 Arctic Report Card included:

• Tom Ballinger, lead author on the surface air temperature essay
• Igor Polyakov, lead author on the Atlantification essay
• Gabe Wolken, lead author on the glaciers and ice caps outside Greenland essay
• Rick Lader and Ballinger, co-authors on the precipitation essay
• Emily Graham, co-author on the rusting rivers essay
• Uma Bhatt, Chris Waigl and Donald "Skip" Walker, co-authors on the tundra greenness essay
• John Walsh, Bhatt and Thoman, co-authors on the surface air temperature essays

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Rick Thoman, 907-474-2415, [email protected]

NOTE TO EDITORS: Several UAF research leaders will participate in an AGU press availability on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 11 a.m. Alaska time. The panel will answer press questions about the Arctic's changing future and how scientific research and innovation will play a pivotal role in what's next in the region. Journalists should register in advance.

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