The Arctic is one of the cloudiest regions on the Earth. White carpet of clouds typically covers the Arctic during three quarters of year. In summertime, clouds reflect sunlight helping to keep the Arctic cool. In winter time, they capture and backscatter heat making the Arctic warmer than it could be under a clear sky. [img_assist|nid=93550|title=|desc=Figure 1. Historical variations since 1930 of the observed convective cloud fraction at the Wrangel Island station (redrawn from Chernokulsky and Esau, 2019).

Key observational indicators of climate change in the Arctic, most spanning a 47 year period (1971–2017) demonstrate fundamental changes among nine key elements of the Arctic system. A new study finds that, coherent with increasing air temperature, there is an intensification of the hydrological cycle, evident from increases in humidity, precipitation, river discharge, glacier equilibrium line altitude and land ice wastage. Director at the Nansen Center, Sebastian H.

The Arctic marine climate system is changing rapidly, which is seen in the warming of the ocean and atmosphere, decline of sea ice cover, increase in river discharge, acidification of the ocean, and changes in marine ecosystems. Socio-economic activities in the coastal and marine Arctic are simultaneously changing. PEEX ("Pan-Eurasian Experiment”) is a research infrastructure program focused on climate and environmental changes in the Northern Eurasian arctic and boreal regions.

The summer school Land Hydrology and Cryosphere of the Arctic and Northern Eurasia in a changing climate gathers this week 52 students and lecturers from 10 countries in Repina near St. Petersburg.

A Nordic Center of Excellence on ensemble-based methods for environmental monitoring and prediction has been awarded by NordForsk to a consortium lead by NERSC.