Recent persistent changes in the Arctic are large enough that they are starting to amplify each other.

Warm Arctic temperatures continue,

reducing sea ice thickness and extent,

and glacier and ice sheet mass.

Globally, sea ice loss affects the earth's heat balance,

and loss of ice from glaciers and ice sheets impacts sea level.

More open water leads to more ocean biological productivity at the base of the food chain,

but many sea ice dependent animals such as polar bears and walrus are losing habitat.

Ice-free waters absorb carbon dioxide,

potentially impacting shellfish.

Land changes, warmer permafrost, and vegetation changes in the vicinity of coastlines

are influenced by the adjacent warm ocean temperatures in sea ice loss regions.

Atmospheric wind patterns in the last two years have shifted, as indicated by record ozone loss,

with cold arctic air reaching far southward into the US and Europe,

and warm air impacting melt on Greenland.

Causes of such shifts are uncertain and a major emphasis for research.

Taken together, these interconnected shifts are indicators of continuing Arctic change

relative to the previous decades at the end of the 20th century.