00:00 This year marked the Arctic's warmest summer on record, leading to unprecedented wildfires
00:11 and glacier melting, posing global challenges such as elevated sea levels, according to
00:15 a report released on Tuesday.
00:17 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 2023 Arctic Report Card revealed that summer
00:24 air temperatures in the Arctic reached their highest level since at least 1900.
00:29 The region continues to warm at double the global rate due to human-induced climate change.
00:34 The report highlighted increased occurrences of extreme weather events with worldwide implications.
00:40 Northern Canada and the Canadian Arctic archipelago experienced warming alongside below-average
00:45 precipitation, contributing to an intense wildfire season.
00:49 Greenland lost an additional 350 trillion pounds of mass from its ice sheet, continuing
00:54 a trend of land-ice loss since 1998.
00:58 The report emphasized that Arctic warming has far-reaching consequences beyond the region,
01:03 impacting global sea levels and posing threats to coastal cities.
01:06 While Greenland's ice loss this year was below the 22-year average due to abundant
01:11 snowfall, the report noted that the heat still had adverse effects.
01:15 Summit Station, the highest point on the ice sheet, experienced melting for only the fifth
01:20 time in 34 years, approaching an all-time record for cumulative melt-day area.
01:25 The report warned of irreversible climate damage caused by Arctic overheating, affecting
01:30 North America and Eurasia.
01:32 It also documented unequivocal evidence of Arctic greening, with warmer temperatures,
01:36 increased precipitation and melting permafrost leading to the proliferation of shrubs and
01:41 trees in grassland and tundra areas.
01:44 Higher greening was observed in North American tundra, while the Eurasian Arctic showed relatively
01:48 low levels.
01:49 The Arctic's peak tundra greenness reached the third-highest level in 24 years of study,
01:54 potentially accelerating climate change by releasing stored carbon dioxide from permafrost.
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