Arctic Temperature Alarm

Air temperature in the Arctic was -19.13°C on 2023-03-25. This is 0.32°C higher than 90th percentile of climatology period... READ MORE

Arctic Temperature Alarm

Air temperature in the Arctic was -19.12°C on 2023-03-24. This is 0.09°C higher than 90th percentile of climatology period... READ MORE

Arctic Temperature Alarm

Air temperature in the Arctic was -19.25°C on 2023-03-23. This is 0.15°C higher than 90th percentile of climatology period... READ MORE

Arctic Temperature Alarm

Air temperature in the Arctic was -19.28°C on 2023-03-22. This is 0.27°C higher than 90th percentile of climatology period... READ MORE

It’s now or never – IPCC 6th Assessment Report released today

Today the final synthesis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 6th Assessment Report cycle was released. This synthesis report restates that it is "now or never" to act, and that we are well on... READ MORE

COUNTDOWN

CO2 Budget Depletion

05 Mar 2023 | Svalbard

Can you kayak around Svalbard? In March?

We’re rapidly approaching the sea ice maximum for the Arctic Ocean, and yet, it’s almost possible to kayak around Svalbard?

With the warming Arctic, we no longer have the degree of sea ice here. At the beginning of the month, sea ice around Svalbard is 270,192 sq km, or 117,691 sq km below the 1991-2020 average.

When the ice is thin and weak, wave action and winds further can prevent it from consolidating into the fast/pack ice that traditionally envelops the archipelago. According to Norwegian Meteorological Institute (sat data from Copernicus), the recent prevailing winds have been southerlies, but they are swinging around, which may help the drift ice strengthen–either way, at a time when Arctic ice should be at its strongest, it’s consequentially absent.

This is coming at the same time as the climate crisis is holding tight onto the other pole. Two weeks ago, Antarctica hit its lowest recorded sea ice extent.

Check out our page on global risks to get a good idea about how climate change in the polar regions spells disaster for the entire world: https://arcticrisk.org/global-risks/

Image source: Norwegian Meteorological Institute

LATEST NEWS & ALERTS

ARCTIC RISK INDICATORS

The following gauges show up-to-date data regarding key indicators in the Arctic. These indicators clearly point to the crisis at hand.

Greenland rate of ice loss
4.5 hundred thousands l/s
on average in 1986-2015
4.5 tons per second
on average in 1986-2015
Worldwide number of disasters
265 disasters
more events in 2022 in comparison to 1970s
183 disasters
more events in 2022 in comparison to 1980s
100 disasters
more events in 2022 in comparison to 1990s
Arctic Sea Ice Extent
1,043,499 km²
below 1981-2010 average on 28-Mar-2023
402,895 mi²
below 1981-2010 average on 28-Mar-2023
Arctic Amplification
2.81 times
faster than global average in last 30 years
2.59 times
faster than global average in last 50 years
2.49 times
faster than global average in last 70 years
Arctic Wildfire emissions
0.19 megatonnes CO₂e
CO₂e emissions in 2023 so far
Arctic Air Quality (PM2.5)
2.72 microgram per cubic meter
on 21-Mar-2023