DOE OSTI · 3002224
The Arctic
Abstract
The Arctic environment in 2024 continued on a trajectory that has put it in a state far different from that of the twentieth century. Ongoing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues to quickly warm the Arctic, resulting in rapid changes in the cryosphere that are driving cascading impacts to climate, ecological, and societal systems. Many weather- and climate-related impacts in the Arctic are the result of compounding change, such as increased riverbank erosion, which is proximately due to increased river discharge from higher seasonal precipitation, yet is also exacerbated by thawing permafrost. However, even individual storms occur within very different ocean and ice conditions than were typically present in the late twentieth century. As a result, the impacts, including high winds, excessive precipitation, and coastal inundation, may be quite different nowadays, as exemplified by the October 2024 storm in northwest Alaska that produced severe coastal flooding in several communities. To share some of these impacts with a wider audience, select extreme weather impacts around the greater Arctic have been highlighted through the inclusion of sidebars in recent State of the Climate Arctic chapters (e.g., Benestad et al. 2023; Thoman et al. 2024).
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Thoman, Richard L. [Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); et al.], Moon, T. A. [National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado], Druckenmiller, M. L. [National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado], Askjaer, Thomas G. [Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark], Ballinger, Thomas J. [International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska], Bhatt, Uma S. [Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska], Berner, Logan T. [School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona], Bernhard, Germar H. [Biospherical Instruments Inc., San Diego, California], Bigalke, Siiri [Department of Geography, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon], Bjerke, Jarle W. [Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway; FRAM – High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, Tromsø, Norway], Bliss, Angela [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland], Box, Jason E. [Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen, Denmark], Brady, Mike [Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Canada], Brettschneider, Brian [NOAA/NWS Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska], Butler, Amy H. [Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado], Christiansen, Hanne H. 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[Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Canada], Forbes, Bruce C. [Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland], Frost, Gerald V. 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[Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey], Lader, Rick [International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska], Lakkala, Kaisa [Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sodankylä, Finland], Lara, Mark J. [Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois; Department of Geography, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois], Lee, Simon H. [School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom], Loomis, Bryant D. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland], Luojus, Kari [Arctic Research Centre, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland], Macander, Matthew J. [Alaska Biological Research, Inc., Fairbanks, Alaska], Magnússon, Rúna Í. [Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands], Mankoff, Ken D. 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[University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada], Tian-Kunze, Xiangshan [Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany], Tedesco, Marco [Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York], Timmermans, Mary-Louise [Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut], Tømmervik, Hans [Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway; FRAM – High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, Tromsø, Norway], Tretiakov, Mikhail [Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia], Waigl, Christine F. [Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska], Walker, Donald (Skip) A. [Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska], Walsh, John E. [International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska], Wang, Muyin [NOAA/OAR Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington; Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington], Webster, Melinda [Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington], Yang, Dedi [Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee] (ORCID:0000000317057823), Zolkos, Scott [Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, Massachusetts]. 2025-08-01. The Arctic. https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-25-0104.1
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