Blog Post
Arctic forever changed by rapidly warming climate – UN weather agency
Climate Action to Save the Arctic
Dramatic Climate Change Ravages the Ice
According to the UN Weather Agency, the Arctic region continued to warm at double the global rate in 2017, leading to the second warmest air temperatures, above-average ocean temperatures, and significant loss of sea ice. This ongoing warming trend is causing dramatic transformation in the Arctic, with far-reaching impacts on human and natural systems. The past three years have been among the warmest on record globally, with 2017 expected to be the warmest year without an El Niño event.
Key Points
Arctic Warming
- The Arctic continued to warm at double the global rate in 2017.
- This resulted in the second warmest air temperatures, above-average ocean temperatures, and significant loss of sea ice in the Arctic.
- The warming trend in the Arctic is driving dramatic transformation in the region, with no signs of the Arctic returning to its reliably frozen state of decades ago, according to the Arctic Report Card.
Global Temperature Trends
- According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the first 11 months of 2017 were the third warmest on record globally, behind 2016 and 2015.
- The 2017 global land and ocean temperature is likely to end up among the three warmest years on record, despite the absence of an El Niño event.
- The long-term trend of global warming since the late 1970s, and especially this century, is more important than the ranking of individual years.
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
- Along with rising temperatures, the world is experiencing more extreme weather events with significant socioeconomic impacts.
- Multiple extreme weather events in 2016, such as record global average temperature and extreme heat in Asia, would not have been possible without human-caused climate change.
- This marks a fundamental change, as scientists now find that we are experiencing "new weather, because we've made a new climate."
