At a Glance

Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen 5 degrees since 1971.Warmer temperatures affect nearly every part of the Arctic's ecosystem.The changes are a key indicator of climate change, scientists say.

Global warming's ripple effects are creating never-before-seen changes in the Arctic's biophysical system and beyond, according to a new study released today.

"The Arctic biophysical system is now clearly from its 20th Century state and into an unprecedented state, with biophysical implications not only within but beyond the Arctic," William Colgan, a climatologist and one of the study's authors, wrote in his blog called Glacier Bytes.

The study was published by the , part of the six-nation that includes the United States.

Colgan and his fellow team of international researchers on Arctic weather patterns and other key indicators of environmental transformation for a 46-year period stretching from 1971 to 2017.

(MORE: Most of Arctic's Newly Formed Sea Ice Melts Before Leaving the 'Nursery')

The results are startling, showing transformations in the growing seasons for plant life, an increase in precipitation, accelerated ice melt and glacier shrinking, among other far-reaching changes.

"I think this is a due to climate warming," Jason Box, another researcher who authored the study, told Inside Climate News.

The study found that average temperatures in the Arctic had increased about 5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1971.

“If there is one climate variable to rule them all, it is air temperature," Colgan wrote in his blog. "There is a startlingly clear – more than 99.9% certain – correspondence between air temperature and the greenness of Arctic-wide tundra. This means a warmer Arctic is a greener Arctic.”

Warmer temperatures are causing plants to bloom at different times, confusing bees and affecting pollination, and warmer ocean temperatures mean less cold, deep water for certain types of fish.

"Last year, with no sea ice and no pool of deep, cold water, pollock were found in the north Bering Sea where they don't usually go," Jim Overland, a climate researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and also a co-author of the study, told Inside Climate News. "The Bering Sea is now in a state we've never seen before."

Arctic sea ice has been at record-low extent for each date throughout April so far, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center's .