Ocean changes and the impacts in the Polar Regions

von Schuckmann, Karina; Gues, Flora; Butel, Mahé; Garric, Gilles; de Pascual, Alvaro; Alonso Valle, Axel; Liné, Aurélien; Moreira Mendez, Lorena

doi:10.5194/sp-7-osr10-2-2026

Articles | Volume 7-osr10

https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-7-osr10-2-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Report:

10th edition of the Copernicus Ocean State Report (OSR10)

https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-7-osr10-2-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7-osr10

30 Sep 2026

| OSR10 | Chapter 1.1

| 30 Sep 2026 | OSR10 | Chapter 1.1

Ocean changes and the impacts in the Polar Regions

Karina von Schuckmann, Flora Gues, Mahé Butel, Gilles Garric, Alvaro de Pascual, Axel Alonso Valle, Aurélien Liné, and Lorena Moreira Mendez

Data sets

Arctic Ocean - Sea and Ice Surface Temperature REPROCESSED E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00123

Global Ocean OSTIA Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Reprocessed E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00168

Global Ocean Sea Ice Concentration Time Series REPROCESSED (EUMETSAT OSI-SAF) E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00136

The ACD Classification of Arctic Coasts Hugues Lantuit et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.919573

ESA Permafrost Climate Change Initiative (Permafrost_cci): Permafrost extent for the Northern Hemisphere, v5.0 Sebastian Westermann et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/D235665772EC4B558E9A89AC85595E71

Arctic circumpolar permafrost region building footprints from < 1 meter resolution Maxar satellite imagery and OpenStreetMap Version 2 (2018-2023) Elias Manos and Chandi Witharana https://doi.org/10.18739/A28K74Z87

Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic boundary polygons, 2021 Greg Fiske https://doi.org/10.18739/A2Z31NQ2H

Pygoscelis adeliae (Adelie Penguin): BirdLife International: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22697758A157660553 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22697758A157660553.en

Aptenodytes forsteri (Emperor Penguin). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22697752A157658053 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22697752A157658053.en

Antarctic Penguin Biogeography Project: Database of abundance and distribution for the Adélie, chinstrap, gentoo, emperor, macaroni, and king penguin south of 60 S. Version 2.3 Christian Che-Castaldo et al. https://doi.org/10.48361/ZFTXKR

Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: High Seas, version 2 Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium https://doi.org/10.14284/696

Global Large Marine Ecosystems International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW-LEARN) https://archive.iwlearn.net/lme.edc.uri.edu/lme.edc.uri.edu/lme.edc.uri.edu/index.php/digital-data.html

AMAP Area (GIS) - boundary, line and polygon shapefiles Frits Steenhuisen and Simon Wilson https://www.amap.no/work-area/document/868

Model code and software

CCAMLR Geospatial Operations Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources https://github.com/ccamlr/geospatial_operations

Short summary

The polar ocean narrative integrates physical, ecological, and societal indicators and shows amplified warming, sea ice loss, and compound change for coastal erosion in the Arctic. Indicators in the Antarctic illustrate an international governance challenge, where biodiversity protection requires both conservation and global mitigation. Together, these examples show that polar ocean change is not a collection of isolated environmental trends, but undergoes an interconnected transformation.