A new NOAA-sponsored report shows that unprecedented warming air temperature in 2016 over the Arctic contributed to a record-breaking delay in the fall sea ice freeze-up, leading to extensive melting of Greenland ice sheet and land-based snow cover.  The Arctic Report Card, released this week at the annual American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco,  is a peer-reviewed report that brings together the work of 61 scientists from 11 nations who report on air, ocean, land and ecosystem changes.  You can read more about it at https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/unprecedented-arctic-warmth-in-2016-triggers-massive-decline-in-sea-ice-snow.  More information can also be found at NPR here and at Mashable here.

Time posted an article on a different set of studies from Nature that rapid melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet could happen much faster than scientists previously believed.  If this happens, sea level would rise much more quickly than expected, making it difficult for coastal cities to adapt to the rapidly rising water.  You can read the article at https://time.com/4592866/greenland-ice-sea-level-rise-climate-change/?xid=newsletter-brief.