New ‘report card’ finds the Arctic continues to warm faster than the global average : NPR

Hundreds of Arctic rivers and streams are turning bright red-orange, not because of chemical pollution, but because of the natural release of iron from long-frozen ground as temperatures rise. The rusty river phenomenon, which has been documented in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska, provides a dramatic example of the effects of climate change in a region that is warming faster than the global average.

The discovery was reported in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual Arctic report released Tuesday. NOAA is releasing the 20-year report as a way to track rapid changes in the northernmost part of the planet.

These decades have seen rapid environmental changes in the region. Last year was the warmest and wettest on record in the Arctic, said Matthew Druckenmiller, senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, and lead editor of this year's report card. He said a warming Arctic is affecting global sea level rise, weather patterns and commercial fishing.

The Arctic “really is the refrigerator of the planet,” Druckenmiller said. “As the Arctic melts and warms, it has an impact on the global climate.”

This year's report comes amid sweeping changes in federal science and climate research. President Trump calls climate change “falsification” and his administration cut climate science by cutting research budgets at universities and federal agencies, firing federal scientists and stopping work on National Climate Assessment.

“Virtually everything related to climate change — the climate crisis — has seen huge cuts,” said Jennifer Francis, a scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts, who was not involved in this year’s Arctic Report Card.

An independent network of scientists from around the world writes and summarizes the research in an annual report, offering it some protection from political winds. Some sections of this year's issue openly discuss the effects of climate change, and at least one study points to the burning of fossil fuels as its leading cause.

“The US administration's view of climate research is changing, and that certainly raises concerns about the ability to work on such a report,” Druckenmiller said. “But in the end we got full support from NOAA.”

The report “highlights the critical value of ongoing collaborative observations for understanding and responding to rapid changes in the Arctic,” NOAA acting chief scientist Steve Thur said in a statement. “NOAA remains committed to addressing this issue.”

Here are some highlights from this year's report:

“Rusty Rivers”

Josh Koch, a research hydrologist with the USGS, said people started noticing the bright orange “rusty rivers” around 2018.

“We heard from people who live in this region – from pilots who fly here often, from people in the national parks,” said Koch, whose research is included in this year's report card. In subsequent years, satellite imagery, water testing and ground observations revealed polluted rivers for hundreds of miles in remote parts of Alaska.

Koch said the melting of long-frozen soil, known as permafrost, is likely causing the color change. As water and oxygen penetrate the melting soil, naturally occurring iron and other metals seep into nearby streams.

“Often it doesn't turn orange until it reaches the creek, and then all the iron and other metals can precipitate and create iron stains,” Koch said. He said changes could happen within days or weeks.

Other metals, such as copper and aluminum, are also released from thawing permafrost. These metals can harm fish, which can then affect other animals in the food chain. Scientists are studying whether metals can contaminate drinking water supplies in rural areas, but have not yet seen any effects, Koch said.

Shrinking glaciers, rising sea levels

The Greenland ice sheet lost 129 billion tons of ice in 2025, continuing its long-term trend. Arctic glaciers outside Greenland have also thinned rapidly since the 1950s; Since then, Alaska's glaciers have lost an average of 125 vertical feet.

Thinning and melting glaciers pose an immediate and long-term threat, Druckenmiller said. The melting of the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska, for example, led to sudden glacial outbursts of water in recent years, causing devastating floods.

Around the world, the ongoing loss of glaciers is contributing to steadily rising sea levelswhich increase the risk of flooding, erosion and storm surge in coastal communities.

The Arctic is more like the Atlantic.

Warmer, saltier water appears in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. There's a word for it – Atlantification – and it's contributing to record low levels of sea ice in the region. This year saw the lowest sea ice extent in 47 years of satellite records.

Similar warming is occurring in the Bering Sea, home to pollock, Pacific salmon and other important commercial fish species. There, warming waters are causing an increase in southern marine life and a decrease in Arctic species. Druckenmiller said the changes disrupt both traditional hunting practices and commercial fishing. “The food chain is linked to the lives of people living in the Arctic,” he said.