Regional weather survey on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Abstract In 2001 the LIMNOPOLAR Project was launched with the aim of addressing the suitability of freshwater ecosystems as useful sentinels of climate change. In this project, an automatic weather station was deployed on Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands) near several fresh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Authors: Bañón, Manuel, Justel, Ana, Velázquez, David, Quesada, Antonio
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2013
Subjects:
Antarctic
Bellingshausen Station
Byers
Byers peninsula
Deception Island
Livingston Island
South Shetland Islands
Antarc*
Antarctic Science
Antarctica
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102012001046
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102012001046
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Summary:Abstract In 2001 the LIMNOPOLAR Project was launched with the aim of addressing the suitability of freshwater ecosystems as useful sentinels of climate change. In this project, an automatic weather station was deployed on Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands) near several freshwater ecosystems under research. Here the multi-year data recorded are presented and compared with meteorological time series from the observatories at the Spanish Juan Carlos I Station, Deception Island and Bellingshausen Station. Lake freezing and thawing periods and snow cover are also investigated. The main results indicate that Byers Peninsula is affected by the very cloudy and wet Antarctic maritime climate. Mean annual temperature is -2.8°C and summer mean temperatures are above freezing. The region shows moderate winds over the year and with moderate, mostly liquid precipitation during the summer. There is a significant linear relationship with meteorological records obtained from Juan Carlos I Station located on the east of Livingston Island. Correlations between meteorological data from both sites are high but with colder and much windier conditions on Byers Peninsula. Therefore, the usefulness and accuracy of meteorological records in the interpretation of ecosystem dynamics are presented.

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