Rethinking climate change impacts on subsurface temperatures in a sub‐Antarctic mire affected by synoptic scale processes

• Published in: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
• Main Authors: Nel, Werner, van der Merwe, Barend J., Meiklejohn, K. Ian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2009
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; Marion Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.1823; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.1823; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.1823

Abstract This paper presents the first high resolution temperature data from a small Agrostis magellanica mire on subantarctic Marion Island as part of an ongoing island‐wide monitoring project on subsurface ground temperature variability. Variations in ground temperatures were found to be directly linked to the passage of synoptic scale weather systems that influence thermal characteristics and heat fluxes especially in the upper 30 cm of the mire. Preliminary data published here suggest that shallow temperatures will be most affected by changes in synoptic climate that Marion Island is currently experiencing with an increase in average temperatures and a reduction in temperature variability with depth. This study proposes that to effectively detect the ecosystem responses to climate change in a maritime sub‐Antarctic environment the temporal scale of measurement needs to be at least on a diurnal scale to be effective. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.