Although surface melt did not set a new record in 2016, the Greenland Ice Sheet did continue a long-term trend of decreasing mass, according to the latest Arctic Report Card from NOAA and its partners.
A black swan event is a situation so rare that few people would have imagined it was possible. In November 2016, researchers were caught off guard by just such an event: extremely low sea ice extents in both the Arctic and Antarctic.
In September 2016, Arctic sea ice tied with 2007 for the second-lowest minimum extent in the satellite record, underscoring an ongoing trend of sea ice decline.
The author of the glacier chapter of the 2015 State of the Climate report and his daughter talk about how family connections brought them together scientifically, and how science keeps bringing their family together.
One reason the Fort McMurray area was at high risk for an early-season forest fire was that April snow cover was well below average in much of western North America.
Every summer, Greenland's ice sheet melts when temperatures warm up. This year, however, saw the start of the ice melt season begin in April, much earlier than normal.
National Snow and Ice Data Center Director Mark Serreze studied every nook and cranny of two Ellesmere Island ice caps in the early 1980s. Now those ice caps are nearly gone.
