The Arctic is warming more than twice the speed of low- and mid-latitudes which are causing dramatic changes in the region. Sea ice is declining more rapidly, resulting in more open ocean which enhances ocean waves and wind conditions and changes the upper ocean layers. The river outflow into the Arctic Ocean is increasing and contributes to changing the Arctic Ocean. The changing temperature and salinity results in changing sea level which is best observed Pan-Arctic by satellite altimetry. Namely, in the later 10 years, satellite altimetry has improved making it possible to observe climate change in more detail.

We present a complete 30-year time series of the Arctic Ocean sea level from ERS-1 (1991) to CryoSat-2 (2021). We look at the extremely dynamic environment and focus on the dramatic changes in the latest 10 years compared to the 30 years of altimetric measurements. This will be done through case studies from the Beaufort Gyre region, the Russian Shelf area, and by studying the general ocean circulation.

The Arctic sea-level record is part of the ESA CCI Sea level initiative and has been updated with a new and better CryoSat processing using ESA G-POD SARvatore Data Repository. The sea-level record is validated against tide gauges, and compared to the ESA CryoTempo Polar Ocean Theme.