Antarctic Temperature and Sea Ice Trends over the Last Century
High latitude regions of the Earth (the Arctic and Antarctic) have been considered as bellwethers in the detection of global climate change. According to IPCC (2001), “Climate change in polar regions is expected to be among the largest and most rapid of any region on the Earth, and will cause major...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.175.4857 http://icecap.us/images/uploads/antarctica_white_paper_final.pdf |
| Summary: | High latitude regions of the Earth (the Arctic and Antarctic) have been considered as bellwethers in the detection of global climate change. According to IPCC (2001), “Climate change in polar regions is expected to be among the largest and most rapid of any region on the Earth, and will cause major physical, ecological, sociological, and economic impacts, especially in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and Southern Ocean. Polar regions contain important drivers of climate change. Once triggered, they may continue for centuries, long after greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized, and cause irreversible impacts on ice sheets, global ocean circulation, and sea-level rise.” Climate models (GCMs) suggest that polar regions should warm more quickly than temperate or tropical regions because the cold temperatures cause the air to be very dry. The low amounts of water vapor, the most important greenhouse gas, causes the relative effects of other gases, notably carbon dioxide (CO2), to be greater. Thus climate change caused by an increase in the latter should be most evident in the polar regions. This paper considers climate trends in Antarctica. In the sections below we examine the results of studies by various researchers who have analyzed Antarctic temperatures and sea ice. We also present temperature data from long-term Antarctic stations. Antarctic Temperature Trends – Station Data We begin by examining measured data from surface temperature stations. Below are annual average temperatures from six long-term stations in Antarctica, obtained from the NASA GISS climate page. Amundson-Scott is at the South Pole, McMurdo, Scott Base and Vostok |
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