The NOAA State of the Arctic report is a review of environmental conditions during the past five years relative to those in the latter part of the 20th century. The review was conducted by an international group of twenty scientists who developed a consensus on information content and reliability. The report updates some of the records from the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.
Taken collectively, the observations presented in the report show convincing evidence of a sustained period of warm temperature anomalies in the Arctic, supported by continued reduction in sea ice extent, observed at both the winter maximum and summer minimum, and widespread changes in arctic vegetation. The warming trend is tempered somewhat by shifts in the spatial patterns of land temperatures and ocean salinity and temperature. While there are still large region to region and multiyear shifts in the arctic climate, the large spatial extent of recent changes in air temperature, sea ice, and vegetation is greater than observed in the 20th Century.
Source: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/soa2006/
