Examining the effects of climate change on the Arctic

The latest Government of Canada report on climate change, released by Natural Resources Canada this year, states that while reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to lessen the magnitude and rate of climate change, some impacts are unavoidable and will require adjustments to reduce risks or take advantage of opportunities. Here's what it says about the Arctic:

Permafrost: Temperatures at numerous sites across Canada have increased over the past two to three decades.

Sea level: Relative sea level rise of more than three millimetres a year has been observed on the Beaufort Sea coast.

Sea ice: End-of-summer minimum ice extent in the Arctic has declined at a rate of 13 per cent per decade from 1979 to 2012, while maximum winter sea ice extent has declined at a rate of 2.6 per cent per decade.

Summer sea ice: A nearly ice-free summer is considered a strong possibility for the Arctic Ocean by the middle of the century, although summer sea ice may persist longer in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago region.

Ice type: A shift in ice cover from one dominated by thick multiyear ice to one increasingly dominated by thin first-year ice has been observed.

Glacier mass: The rate of mass loss for glaciers throughout the High Arctic has increased sharply since 2005 in direct response to warm regional summer temperatures.

Ocean: Arctic ocean temperature has increased, as has acidity.