A comprehensive, near-real-time Arctic Change Detection Product has been developed by the US/NOAA Arctic Research Office to track physical and biological changes for presentation on the web. The Change Detection Product uses a narrative style to highlight land and marine ecosystems, the cryosphere, Arctic and sub-Arctic human impacts, and an overall summary by evaluating recent reports against historical information. The effort provides a continuous update to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) Report, which is an expert evaluation of credible information from expert sources. Released in November 2004, the ACIA report represents a multi-year, multi-government effort by hundreds of scientists.

The NOAA Arctic Change Detection project will provide information from near-real time indicators and their potential impacts for the state of the Arctic in an accessible, understandable, and credible format. The web product builds on the 10 key findings, 19 climate trends and 10 society impacts enumerated in the ACIA Report. The ACIA Report and this web site are useful for managers, scientists and a broader audience because the credibility of the process is based on multiple lines of evidence; using such a procedure balances problems caused by having too many indicators which lack specificity, or too few indicators which do not consider the complexity of the process nor provide a robust result. The Change Detection Product is presented in the context of the Arctic Theme Page, located at www.arctic.noaa.gov, and all background information is available to the reader/user. Results from this project are tailored towards ready understanding of the rate and extent of change in the Arctic to facilitate informed decisions concerning the impacts which result. The Arctic Change Detection Product will provide non-Arctic climate scientists with a quick and definitive update on the status of the Arctic climate.