The State of the Climate report, published each year as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, is the most comprehensive annual global climate report, with contributions from hundreds of authors worldwide. The newly released State of the Climate in 2024 details record global greenhouse gas concentrations and surface temperatures as well as other key trends, events, and phenomena.
In this post, we speak with Arctic chapter co-editors Rick Thoman, Twila Moon, and Matthew Druckenmiller about the Arctic in 2024. Read the Arctic chapter here.
What were your roles in the report?
Rick Thoman served as an editor of the Arctic chapter and as a co-author on the Surface Air Temperature section and August Heatwave sidebar. Twila Moon and Matthew Druckenmiller also served as Arctic chapter editors.
What are some noteworthy trends or events you’d want to highlight from the Arctic in 2024?
2024 was the second warmest year for the Arctic (since 1900), and for the 11th consecutive year, Arctic amplification was prominent with the Arctic annual temperature anomaly larger than the global average anomaly.
Increasing discharge from Arctic Rivers is consistent with intensification of the Arctic — and global — hydrologic cycle.
In the past forty years the Arctic has changed from a region dominated by thick multi-year sea ice to one where thin first-year sea ice prevails. The extent of older, multi-year sea ice (at September minimum) is about 95% less than the extent in the 1980s! If you include both multiyear and first-year ice, the September minimum extent is now around 50% less than the 1980s.
Mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet was less than half of the previous 20 year average, though it’s important to note that ongoing ice loss, including 2024, remains a strong indicator of our heating planet. We include a sidebar that explains the weather patterns that contributed to this lower year of ice loss than the recent average.
Image: Seasonal temperatures compared to the 1991–2020 average in the Arctic were dominated by unusual warmth throughout 2024, as indicated by the orange and red shading, and were particularly notable in the Northern Hemisphere summer and autumn. These high temperatures, more than 6°C above average during autumn in some locales, led to many records being broken in 2024, as shown by the black dots. Below-average temperatures, as indicated by blue shading, were mostly transient and occurred predominately in the winter and spring. (Fig. 5.6 in “The Arctic” section of The State of the Climate in 2024; see report for full caption and explanation, including discussion in section 5c.)
How is our ability to monitor the Arctic climate evolving?
Tundra greening, one of the most iconic features of the 21st century Arctic, will be monitored through transitioning to different space-borne sensors as the legacy satellites that established the pan-Arctic extent of greening age out.
What are your concerns in the year ahead?
We hope to see the value of Arctic and climate research being reiterated by institutions and stakeholders. More policymakers, business leaders, and community to state to federal decision makers standing up for the value of climate and environment observations and research, in part by connecting the dots between climate and other topics of high importance, like economy, health, and immigration. However, the multi-pronged assault on science in the U.S. will be sure to degrade our ability to accurately access and clearly communicate what’s happening in Arctic environments.
View other posts about the State of the Climate in 2024.
Photo at top: Tiniteqilaaq, Greenland. Credit: Jean-Christophe André on Pexels.
