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The Arctic experienced its warmest year on record, a milestone that scientists said was already changing the weather system beyond the polar circle.
Surface air temperatures in the Arctic between October 2024 and September 2025 were the highest since at least 1900, according to the Arctic Report Card 2025 released this week by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This shows that the region is now warming at a rate more than twice the global average, with its 10 warmest years occurring in the last decade.
alert came after a report by Copernicus stating that the year was determined second or third hottest on recordPotentially surpassed only by the record-breaking heat of 2024.
Earth is on track to complete its first three-year period of below average global temperatures exceeded 1.5C 1850-1900 dates back to the pre-industrial period when people began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale.
“The Arctic is warming many times faster than the entire Earth, reshaping northern landscapes, ecosystems and the livelihoods of Arctic peoples,” the report’s executive summary says. “The roles the Arctic plays in global climate, economic and social systems are also changing.”
The latest findings come as researchers document accelerating ice loss, record rainfall, warming oceans and widespread disruption to the Arctic ecosystem – changes they warn are no longer limited to the far north.
According to the report, autumn 2024 was the warmest on record for the Arctic, while winter 2025 ranked as the second warmest, due to persistently high temperatures across much of the region. Precipitation also reached record highs between October 2024 and September 2025, with winter, spring and autumn each ranking among the five wettest since records began in 1950.
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In the ocean, Arctic winter ice cover reached a new low. In March 2025, when sea ice was expected to reach its annual maximum extent, the extent was the smallest in the 47-year satellite record. By September, summer sea ice had fallen to the 10th lowest level ever observed, continuing a downward trend that scientists say is fundamentally altering the Arctic Ocean.
The oldest and thickest perennial sea ice, once a defining feature of the Arctic, has declined by more than 95 percent since the 1980s, with most remaining ice now restricted to areas north of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
In August, sea surface temperatures in parts of the Atlantic region of the Arctic Ocean were recorded nearly 7C above the 1991-2020 average, an extreme anomaly that researchers linked to the increasing effect of warm Atlantic waters pushing northward – a process known as “Atlantification.”
The report documents major biological changes associated with warmer, more open oceans. Since 2003, phytoplankton productivity has increased by 80 percent in the Eurasian Arctic, with significant increases in the Barents Sea and Hudson Bay. While increased productivity may seem positive, scientists warn it is reshaping food webs, altering fisheries and threatening indigenous subsistence practices that depend on stable seasonal cycles.
On land, the effects are equally intense. Glaciers in Arctic Scandinavia and Svalbard record their largest annual ice loss between 2023 and 2024.
The Greenland ice sheet lost an estimated 129 billion tons in 2025, continuing a long-term pattern that is contributing to global sea-level rise, even though the loss was less than the long-term annual average.
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“Continuing glacier loss is driving global sea levels to rise, threatening the water supplies of Arctic communities, causing devastating floods and increasing the risk of landslides and tsunamis that threaten people, infrastructure and coastlines,” the report said.
One of the most visible and worrying new developments highlighted in the report is the emergence of so-called “rusting rivers”. In more than 200 watersheds in Arctic Alaska, melting permafrost is releasing iron and other metals into rivers and streams, turning once-clear waters orange and increasing acidity and toxic metal concentrations. Scientists say this decline threatens drinking water supplies, fish stocks and aquatic biodiversity in remote communities.
Researchers stress that what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. The loss of reflective ice exposes deep ocean surfaces that absorb more heat, leading to warming through a feedback loop known as Arctic amplification. Additionally, warming and freshening of Arctic waters could weaken key ocean circulation systems that influence weather patterns across Europe and North America.
Some scientists also link rapid Arctic warming to changes in atmospheric circulation that could allow cold air to spread southward more frequently, leading to extreme winter weather in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.
The hydrological cycle of the Arctic is also intensifying. More precipitation is falling as rain rather than snowfall, while June snow cover in the Arctic is now about half what it was six decades ago, reducing the region’s ability to reflect solar radiation back into space.
The 2025 Arctic Report Card marks 20 years of continuous monitoring, providing what the US agency describes as a clear picture of a region undergoing rapid, systemic change. The scientists involved in the report emphasize that although new records are not set every year, the long-term trajectory is unmistakable.
Despite improvements in the observation network, the agency warned that major gaps remain, especially in remote areas, limiting scientists’ ability to track changes affecting water availability, infrastructure sustainability and food security.