Author

Rick Thoman

Rick Thoman

Rick Thoman is an Alaska climate specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

COMMENTARY

Arctic Report Card 2022: The Arctic is getting rainier and seasons are shifting

By: , and - December 14, 2022

In the Arctic, the freedom to travel, hunt, and make day-to-day decisions is profoundly tied to cold and frozen conditions for much of the year. These conditions are rapidly changing as the Arctic warms. The Arctic is now seeing more rainfall when historically it would be snowing. Sea ice that once protected coastlines from erosion […]

COMMENTARY
People standing on a mound of sea ice

Commentary: 2021 Arctic Report Card reveals a (human) story of cascading disruptions

By: , and - December 31, 2021

The Arctic has long been portrayed as a distant end-of-the-Earth place, disconnected from everyday common experience. But as the planet rapidly warms, what happens in this icy region, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the globe, increasingly affects lives around the world. On Dec. 14, a team of 111 scientists […]