Arctic Climate Impact Assessment - Subsequent Studies

Subsequent Studies

The NOAA State of the Arctic Report 2006 updates some of the records of the ACIA report. Taken collectively, the observations presented in the NOAA report show convincing evidence of a sustained period of warm temperature anomalies in the Arctic, supported by continued reduction in sea ice extent, observed at both the winter maximum and summer minimum, and widespread changes in Arctic vegetation. The warming trend is tempered somewhat by shifts in the spatial patterns of land temperatures and ocean salinity and temperature. While there are still large region to region and multiyear shifts in the Arctic climate, the large spatial extent of recent changes in air temperature, sea ice, and vegetation is greater than observed in the 20th century. The NOAA report is a review of environmental conditions during the past five years relative to those in the latter part of the 20th century, conducted by an international group of twenty scientists who developed a consensus on information content and reliability.

As an annual follow-on activity to the 2006 NOAA State of the Arctic report, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Report Card presents annually updated, peer-reviewed information on recent observations of environmental conditions in the Arctic relative to historical records. The conclusion for 2010 is that a return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely. Record temperatures across Canadian Arctic and Greenland, a reduced summer sea ice cover, record snow cover decreases and links to some Northern Hemisphere weather support this conclusion.

In April 2008, the World Wildlife Fund's report, Arctic Climate Impact Science – An Update Since ACIA was launched at the meeting of the Arctic Council. It provides a large, updated review of Arctic climate impact science since the 2005 ACIA. The full report can be freely downloaded from the WWF web site.