Overview
- The Science Advances paper, led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute with international partners, analyzes more than 70 years of Arctic bioclimate using atmospheric reanalysis.
- Researchers report sharp increases in prolonged heatwaves, warm winter spells, growing-season frost and damaging rain-on-snow events.
- At least one newly emerging extreme now occurs across roughly one-third of Arctic land, with rain-on-snow newly affecting over 10 percent of the land area.
- Hotspots of intensified seasonal change and extremes include Western Scandinavia, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Central Siberia.
- The team warns of plant die-offs, high mortality in animals such as reindeer and risks to pastoral livelihoods, with potential reductions in the region’s carbon uptake.