Arctic Report Card 2012: Tracking recent environmental changes Atmosphere Summary Ozone and UV Radiation Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane (CH4) Sea Ice and Ocean Summary Ocean Marine Ecosystems Summary Primary Productivity and Nutrient Variability Ecosystem Observations in Barrow Canyon: A Focus for the International Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) Fish and Fisheries in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas: Projected Impacts of Climate Change Marine Mammals Benthos Terrestrial Ecosystems Summary Vegetation Lemmings (Lemmus and Dicrostonyx spp.) Caribou and Reindeer (Rangifer) Terrestrial Cryosphere Summary Mountain Glaciers and Ice Caps (Outside Greenland) Greenland Ice Sheet Permafrost

The Arctic Report Card (www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/) considers a wide range of environmental observations throughout the Arctic, and is updated annually. A major finding of the Report Card 2012 is that numerous record-setting melting events occurred, even though, Arctic-wide, it was an unremarkable year, relative to the previous decade, for a primary driver of melting—surface air temperatures. The exception was Greenland where record-breaking air temperatures and near-ice sheet-wide surface melting occurred in summer 2012. From October 2011 through August 2012, positive (warm) temperature anomalies were relatively small over the central Arctic compared to conditions in recent years (2003-2010). Yet, in spite of these moderate conditions, new records were set for sea ice extent, terrestrial snow extent and permafrost temperature.