Arctic Report Card 2020

Thoman, R. L. and Richter-Menge, J. and Druckenmiller, Matthew L. (2020) Arctic Report Card 2020. Project Report. NOAA.

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Abstract

The Arctic Report Card (ARC) provides an annual update on the state of the Arctic's climate and environment as well as highlights of Arctic science news of the past year. ARC2020 features 16 essays, 11 of which provide updates on a wide range of Arctic science topics, from the past year's air temperatures and sea ice conditions to the latest in bowhead whale research. Taken as a whole, across a variety of disciplines and viewpoints, the story is unambiguous: the transformation of the Arctic to a warmer, less frozen, and biologically changed region is well underway. Extreme high temperatures in the Eurasian Arctic in spring and summer 2020 provide a clear demonstration of the strong connections within the Arctic environment that characterize this region. Three closely connected essays examine the acquisition of observational data and their use in modeling to understand physical systems in the Arctic. ARC2020 also marks the publication's 15th anniversary. Two essays reflect back across the evolution of the ARC itself and the tools utilized to help understand the changes in progress. We must report that, like so much else, ARC2020 was altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. A planned essay on the impacts of the changing Arctic on food security from the viewpoints of Indigenous marine mammal hunters from two northwest Alaska communities had to be postponed to a future ARC due to travel and community related exposure restrictions.

Item Type: Monograph (Project Report)
Related URLs:
    Subjects: Natural Environment > Cryosphere
    Research and Education > Projects
    Organizations: Unspecified
    Date Deposited: 16 Apr 2026 14:42
    URI: https://library.arcticportal.org/id/eprint/2940

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