Arctic Report Card 2013: Tracking recent environmental changes Atmosphere Summary Ozone UV Radiation Black Carbon in the Arctic Sea Ice and Ocean Summary Ocean Temperature and Salinity Marine Ecosystems Summary Marine Fishes of the Arctic Arctic Benthic Communities Terrestrial Ecosystems Summary Muskoxen Migratory Tundra Rangifer Terrestrial Cryosphere Summary Mountain Glaciers and Ice Caps (Outside Greenland) Greenland Ice Sheet Lake Ice Permafrost

The Arctic Report Card (www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/) considers a wide range of environmental observations throughout the Arctic, and is updated annually. The 2013 update to the Report Card illustrates the significant effects of year-to-year and regional variability, which overlie the impacts of the persistent warming trend that began over 30 years ago. For instance, after a record-setting year in 2012, relatively cool air temperatures in summer 2013 across the central Arctic Ocean, Greenland and northern Canada facilitated an increase in the summer sea ice extent and a decrease in the extent and duration of melting at the surface of the Greenland ice sheet. In contrast, summer 2013 was one of the warmest on record in Alaska, where new record high temperatures were set at some permafrost observatories, and Fairbanks, in the center of the state, experienced a record 36 days with temperatures of 27°C or higher.