Even as winter darkness descends across the Arctic, a year of record-breaking heat continues.
Even as winter darkness descends across the Arctic, a year of record-breaking heat continues. Temperatures last weekend across the entire Arctic basin hit 12 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, scientists announced, with some areas measuring as high as 30 degrees F or more above the norm.
These extraordinary temperatures come on the heels of an exceptionally warm summer and fall in the Arctic that saw temperatures exceed 100 degrees F above the Arctic Circle in Siberia and cause an unprecedented delay in the Arctic Ocean refreezing this autumn. Indeed, the Northeast Passage along the Siberian coast remained navigable this year for a record 112 days until the route finally froze over earlier this month. That 112-day span shattered the previous record by about a month.
Satellite measurements show that the extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean was the lowest ever recorded in October. That followed a September in the Arctic in which the sea ice minimum was the second-lowest on record since satellite monitoring began in 1979.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: Free-Photos via Pixabay
