Arctic Report Card: Update for 2015

The Arctic Report Card has been issued annually since 2006. It is a timely and peer-reviewed source for clear, reliable and concise environmental information on the current state of different components of the Arctic environmental system relative to historical records. The Report Card is intended for a wide audience, including scientists, teachers, students, decision-makers and the general public interested in the Arctic environment and science.

This paper presents the 2015 update to the Arctic Report Card, which will be released in December 2015.

The Arctic Report Card 2015 has a different look compared to those published in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Beginning in 2014, there are three sections: Vital Signs, Indicators, and Frostbites. The Vital Signs section includes annual updates on the same seven topics: Air Temperature; Terrestrial Snow Cover; Greenland Ice Sheet; Sea Ice; Sea Surface Temperature; Ocean Primary Productivity; and Tundra Greenness.

The Indicators section is for topics (Ozone, UV Radiation, Permafrost, Glaciers and Ice Caps, to name a few) that have appeared in previous Report Cards but which will now be updated every 2-4 years.

The Frostbites section is an entirely new feature for reports on new and newsworthy items, describe emerging issues, and address topics that relate to long-term scientific observations in the Arctic.