East-West Asymmetry in Coastal Temperatures of Hudson Bay as a Proxy for Sea Ice

• Main Author: McGovern, Peter
• Other Authors: Gough, William A.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Sea Ice; Hudson Bay; Proxy; 0368; Hudson; Inukjuak; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/43258

The seasonal asymmetry in coastal temperatures on Hudson Bay was explored and evaluated as a proxy to hindcast sea ice conditions prior to 1972. Various indices of air temperature difference (∆T) between Churchill, MB and Inukjuak, QC were tested for linear correlations with spatially averaged sea ice concentration (SIC) and ice-free season length (IFS). A multiple regression equation employing a 31-day average of peak ∆T and a 61-day average of temperature during freeze-up reproduced the IFS record with an average error of 8.1 days. This equation was employed to extend the IFS record by 28 years. The resulting 68-year time series revealed a significant increasing trend most pronounced from 1985 to 2011. Hindcast data helped eliminate low-frequency climate oscillations of periodicity <68 years as a source of this trend, lending further evidence to the growing consensus of a declining sea ice being the result of anthropogenic climate forcing.