Record Detail

Alaskan Arctic waters have participated in hemispheric-wide Arctic warming over the last two decades at over two
times the rate of global warming. During 2008–13, this relative warming occurred only north of the Bering Strait and
the atmospheric Arctic front that forms a north–south thermal barrier. This front separates the southeastern Bering Sea
temperatures from Arctic air masses. Model projections show that future temperatures in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas
continue to warm at a rate greater than the global rate, reaching a change of +4◦C by 2040 relative to the 1981–2010
mean. Offshore at 74◦N, climate models project the open water duration season to increase from a current average of three
months to five months by 2040. These rates are occasionally enhanced by midlatitude connections. Beginning in August
2014, additional Arctic warming was initiated due to increased SST anomalies in the North Pacific and associated shifts
to southerly winds over Alaska, especially in winter 2015–16. While global warming and equatorial teleconnections are
implicated in North Pacific SSTs, the ending of the 2014–16 North Pacific warm event demonstrates the importance of
internal, chaotic atmospheric natural variability on weather conditions in any given year. Impacts from global warming on
Alaskan Arctic temperature increases and sea-ice and snow loss, with occasional North Pacific support, are projected to
continue to propagate through the marine ecosystem in the foreseeable future. The ecological and societal consequences of
such changes show a radical departure from the current Arctic environment.