Arctic air temperatures are continuing to rise at twice the rate of temperatures in lower latitudes according to a report on Wednesday. The high temperatures are causing significant amounts of ice to melt on land and sea, and they are affecting migrations of fish and populations of polar bears.

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration issued an Arctic Report Card stating that Alaska recorded temperatures almost 20 degrees higher than the average temperature for January as a result of the warmer temperatures in the Arctic. Lead editor of the Arctic Report Card and scientist with the Office of Naval Research Martin Jeffries said that “we are an Arctic nation” and stressed that what happens with the temperatures in the north matters “to us down here.”

The Arctic’s warmth was partially a result of the Arctic amplification of global warming, which is caused by the loss of sea ice in the summer. According to NASA, when ice that is reflective and bright melts, it “gives way to a darker ocean.” In turn, the warming trend is intensified because the ocean surface absorbs more heat than the surface of ice.

The ice that Jeffries is focused on is the sea ice that melts in the summer and refreezes in the winter. He said that the Arctic’s loss of reflective ice is significant because it plays a major part in helping regulate the global climate. Jeffries also stated that there is no way of knowing just how long it could take for summer sea ice to disappear completely.

In Eurasia–the land mass covering Asia and Europe–the lowest amount of snow since the satellite observations started in 1979 was recorded in April. Also, the snow in June in North America was the third lowest amount of snow recorded, according to a senior research engineer for NOAA’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and co-editor of the report card Jacqueline A. Ritcher-Menge. She explained that snow disappeared three or four years earlier than usual in Scandinavia, the Canadian sub-Arctic, western Russia, and western Alaska due to above average spring temperatures and below average winter accumulation.

Craig McLean, assistant administrator for the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, said that more opportunities for activities such as resource extraction, fishing and shipping will arise for countries near the Arctic with the melting sea ice and rising temperatures.

The report also states that melting occurred across 40 percent of the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet, Tundra greenness and biomass is increasing in the Arctic but browning in Eurasia and the Arctic sea ice is continuing its steady long-term decline. However, the decline noted on the report was not record-breaking.

The population of polar bears decreased in parts of Alaska, but it was said to be fairly stable in the Arctic. Senior director of conservation with Polar Bears International Geoff York stated that the size of the polar bear population in the arctic is difficult to determine due to the large area. But, polar bears are dependent on sea ice to hunt, mate and travel. Therefore, the size of their population can indicate how climate change affects the region’s wildlife.