The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Arctic Report Card: Update for 2011 is now available online. Updated annually, the Report provides a synopsis on the state of environmental changes in the Arctic based on peer-reviewed information of recent Arctic observations relative to historical records.  Five Environment Canada scientists contributed to the Report as lead or co-authors in different focus areas: Chris Derksen and Ross Brown (terrestrial snow cover), Vitali Fioletov (ozone and ultraviolet radiation), Evan Richardson (polar bears), and Mike Gill (vegetation).

The fundamental conclusion of the Report is that the Arctic is warming and there is strong observational evidence of temperature-induced changes to the cryosphere (frozen water portion of Earth), including reduced snow cover, sea ice, and river/lake ice, longer melt seasons over glaciers and land ice, and warming permafrost temperatures. Changes were also observed in other environmental variables, such as stratospheric ozone and ultraviolet radiation, vegetation, biodiversity, and wildlife (marine & terrestrial) throughout the Arctic. These changes mark a continuation of the trends which have been observed over previous decades. In many cases, such as multi-year sea ice loss, snow cover, and glacier mass balance, an acceleration of the trends during the past five years is evident.

Contact: Dr. Chris Derksen, 416-739-5804, Chris.Derksen@ec.gc.ca, Climate Research Division

Photo: Scientists from the Climate Research Division conducting snow measurements near the Sawtooth Mountains, Ellesmere Island during April 2011.