Major changes in the climate of the Antarctic Peninsula during the last 50 years
- British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (United Kingdom); and others
This paper presents surface meteorological observational data and general circulation model (GCM) results of climate changes along the western wide of the antarctic Peninsula. The climate in this area exhibits an interannual variability that is greater than for any other part of the Antarctic. A statistically significant increase in temperature since the mid-1940s was found. A strong correlation was shown between the sea ice extent in the Bellingshausen Sea and temperatures at coastal stations. Atmospheric circulation variations in the region were reproduced more accurately by an atmosphere-only GCM than by a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice GCM. This suggests that the large interannual variability of the atmospheric circulation is a result of the land-sea distribution and topography, rather than from forcing by specific variations of sea surface temperature or sea ice. From the available data, it appears that the major warming in this region took place between the 1940s and the 1970s. Due to the high correlation between temperature and the sea ice in the Bellingshausen Sea, and therefore the cyclonic activity over the Amundsen Sea, it seems most likely that the warming occurred because of greater cyclonic activity in the Amundsen Sea area since about 1970. Correlations were also found between activity in the Amundsen Sea and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. 3 refs., 5 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 535522
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970207--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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