The average surface air temperature over the Arctic for this past year (October 2021-September 2022) was the 6th warmest since 1900. The last seven years are collectively the warmest seven years on record.
Low pressure across the Alaska Arctic and northern Canada sustained warm summer temperatures over the Beaufort Sea and Canadian Archipelago.
The Arctic continues to warm more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe, with even greater warming in some locations and times of year.
2022 Arctic sea ice extent was similar to 2021 and well below the long-term average.
August 2022 mean sea surface temperatures continued to show warming trends for 1982-2022 in most ice-free regions of the Arctic Ocean. SSTs in the Chukchi Sea were anomalously cool in August 2022.
Most regions of the Arctic continued to show increased ocean plankton blooms, or ocean primary productivity, over the 2003-22 period, with the greatest increases in the Eurasian Arctic and Barents Sea.
Satellite records from 2009 to 2018 show increasing maritime ship traffic in the Arctic as sea ice declines. The most significant increases in maritime traffic are occurring from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait and Beaufort Sea.
NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland mission used cutting-edge technology to demonstrate that rising ocean temperatures along Greenland’s continental shelf are contributing to ice loss through melting glaciers at the ice sheet’s margins.
The Greenland Ice Sheet experienced its 25th consecutive year of ice loss. In September 2022, unprecedented late-season warming created surface melt conditions over 36% of the ice sheet, including at the 10,500 ft ice sheet summit.
Tundra greening declined from the record high values of the previous two years, with high productivity in most of the North American Arctic, but unusually low productivity in northeastern Siberia. Wildfires, extreme weather events, and other disturbances have become more frequent, influencing the variability of tundra greenness.
The distribution, conservation status, and ecology of most Arctic pollinators are poorly known though these insects are critically important to Arctic ecosystems and the food systems of Arctic Indigenous Peoples and Arctic residents. Coordinated long-term monitoring, increased funding, and emerging technologies can improve our understanding of Arctic pollinator habitats and status, and inform effective conservation strategies.