Snow surface temperatures in West Antarctica

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Authors: Morris, E.M., Vaughan, D.G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1994
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Faraday; Marguerite; Marguerite Bay; Ronne Ice Shelf; The Antarctic; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctic Science; Antarctica; Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf; Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102094000787; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102094000787

Snow temperatures measured at around 10 m depth over the period 1957–1992 have been used to derive a map of mean annual snow surface temperature corrected to sea level over the Antarctic Peninsula and Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. Multiple linear regression analysis has been used to calculate rates of change with latitude, longitude, altitude and time, for data to the west and east of the topographic divide running along the spine of the Antarctic Peninsula. Climate warming on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf follows the trend observed at Halley Bay, a coastal station nearby. High spatial variability leads to uncertainty in the temporal trend for mean annual snow surface temperature in the Antarctic Peninsula but there is some indication that the large trends observed at Faraday and Marguerite Bay, two stations on the west coast of the peninsula, are attenuated inland.