Arctic
The vast U.S. Alaskan Arctic is almost a fifth in size of the lower 48 states. The rich and diverse Arctic landscape includes tundra, rainforests, mountain glaciers, boreal forests, meadows, and millions of inland lakes.
While global warming is causing average temperatures to rise around the world, the effects are being felt most dramatically in the Arctic, where temperatures are climbing at roughly twice the global pace. While remote for most of us, the changes happening today in the Arctic are important signs of what may come for the rest of the planet.
Global warming directly influences the surface area and thickness of sea ice, the floating ice that surrounds land masses of the Arctic. While sea ice fluctuates seasonally, annual spring ice now breaks up earlier, summer ice is melting more dramatically, and winter freezing occurs later each year. Scientists now predict a complete disappearance of summer sea ice within this century.
On land, the Arctic permafrost is melting, causing erosion, landslides, and damaging forest habitats, while the pace of glacier retreat has greatly increased. Global warming is also at the center of increased wildfires and insect outbreaks threatening Alaska’s forest land. While there will likely be more rain overall, increased evaporation projected will actually make soils drier in most of the state. Lake levels are declining, and wetlands are drying up completely. Perhaps most dramatically, rising sea levels are eating away at coastal regions, threatening entire communities and particularly indigenous people following traditional ways of life.
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Species in the region:
