
The Arctic endured a year of record heat and shrunken sea ice as the world’s northern latitudes continue a rapid shift to becoming rainier and less ice-bound due to the climate crisis, scientists have reported.
From October 2024 to September 2025, temperatures across the entire Arctic region were the hottest in 125 years of modern record keeping, NOAA said, with the last 10 years being the 10 warmest on record in the Arctic.
The Arctic is heating up as much as four times as quickly as the global average, due to the burning of fossil fuels, and this extra heat is warping the world’s refrigerator — a region that acts as a key climate regulator for the rest of the planet.
The maximum extent of sea ice in 2025 was the lowest in the 47-year satellite record, NOAA reported on in its annual Arctic report card. This is the latest landmark in a longer trend, with the region’s oldest, thickest ice declining by more than 95 percent since the 1980s as the Arctic becomes hotter and rainier.
This year was a record for precipitation in the Arctic. Much of this is not settling as snow — the June snow cover extent over the Arctic today is half of what it was six decades ago.
“This year was the warmest on record and had the most precipitation on record — to see both of those things happen in one year is remarkable,” said Matthew Langdon Druckenmiller, an Arctic scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado and an editor of the Arctic report card. “This year has really underscored what is to come.”
Scientists have been struck by how exceptional warmth in other seasons, particularly summer, is now becoming evident in winter too, affecting the annual growth of sea ice across the Arctic in its coldest months. In the past month or so, sea ice extent has been the lowest on record, potentially heralding another reduced maximum for sea ice next year.
“There’s been a steady decline in sea ice and unfortunately we are seeing rain now even in winter,” said Druckenmiller. “We are seeing changes in the heart of winter, when we expect the Arctic to be cold. The whole concept of winter is being redefined in the Arctic.”
These changes are acutely felt by people and wildlife in the Arctic — rain falling on to snow can freeze into a barrier that makes it harder for animals to forage for food, while also making for more slippery, hazardous conditions for people traveling by road. The retreat of glaciers can also cause potentially dangerous flooding, as seen in Juneau, Alaska, this year.
The loss of sea ice is opening up vast areas of dark ocean, which is absorbing, rather than reflecting, more of the heat that is raising global temperatures. While the melting sea ice isn’t itself causing the seas to rise, the loss of land-based glaciers is, with NOAA reporting that the huge Greenland ice sheet lost 129 billion tons of ice in 2025. This will add to sea level rise that will menace coastal cities for generations to come.
“We are seeing cascading impacts from a warming Arctic,” said Zack Labe, a climate scientist at Climate Central. “Coastal cities aren’t ready for the rising sea levels, we have completely changed the fisheries in the Arctic which leads to rising food bills for sea food. We can point to the Arctic as a far away place but the changes there affect the rest of the world.”
—Oliver Milman, The Guardian
ALSO ON YALE E360
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North?
NEUESTE BEITRÄGE
- 1
Far-right AfD invited back to Munich Security Conference in 202628.12.2025 - 2
A definitive Manual for Picking Electric Vehicle: Decision in favor of Your Number one05.06.2024 - 3
5 VIP Voice Exhibitions in Energized Movies01.01.1 - 4
Instructions to Plan for Your Teeth Substitution Methodology16.10.2023 - 5
Rachael Ray is navigating grief this holiday season. She doesn't have time for 'negative energy' on the internet.22.12.2025
Ähnliche Artikel
Korean Air takes emergency action as fuel prices soar30.03.2026
Israel's fractured opposition hands Netanyahu a full term29.03.2026
Public Parks in the USA01.01.1
Self-sacrificing ants highlight the unity of their colony, say researchers02.12.2025
If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise?29.03.2026
Figure out How to Advance Space in Your Pre-assembled Home for Upgraded Usefulness19.10.2023
The most effective method to Safeguard Your Teeth from Acidic Food varieties and Beverages19.10.2023
Scientists sent a menstrual cup to space. This is how it went07.12.2025
Mexico says a third of 130,000 missing people might be alive, fueling criticisms by families27.03.2026
Addressing sleep apnea early might decrease chances of developing Parkinson's disease25.11.2025














