With few exceptions, unusual warmth dominated Arctic Ocean basins in 2019.
In March 1985, sea ice at least four years old made up 33 percent of the ice pack in the Arctic Ocean; in March 2019, ice that old made up 1.2 percent of the pack.
In 2019, air temperatures over the Arctic were the second-warmest on record, continuing a string of 6 years that have been warmer than all other periods in the historic record dating back to 1900.
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that Earth is warming and a preponderance of scientific evidence that human activities are the main cause.
In 2019, the area of the Arctic Ocean where the summer sea ice cover was at least 15 percent tied with 2007 and 2016 as the second-smallest on record.
Europe's rogue heatwave melts Greenland
August 14, 2019
Ice cover on the Great Lakes has been decreasing since the 1970s, affecting everything from fishing to shipping.
A lack of persistent sea ice in waters around the Bering Strait this winter disrupted travel, damaged roads and other infrastructure, and prevented traditional hunting and fishing in several coastal communities in western Alaska.
A mild winter and warm spring have led to a large patch of open water in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, an extremely unusual—possibly unprecedented—occurrence for mid-May.