E.: A Synthesis of Antarctic Temperatures
Monthly surface air temperatures from land surface stations, automatic weather stations, and ship/buoy observations from the high latitude Southern Hemisphere are synthesized into gridded analyses at a resolution appropriate for applications ranging from spatial trend analyses to climate change impa...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.476.826 http://88.167.97.19/albums/files/TMTisFree/Documents/Climate/A_synthesis_of_Antarctic_temperatures_Antarctic.paper.chapwalsh.2005.pdf |
| Summary: | Monthly surface air temperatures from land surface stations, automatic weather stations, and ship/buoy observations from the high latitude Southern Hemisphere are synthesized into gridded analyses at a resolution appropriate for applications ranging from spatial trend analyses to climate change impact assessments. Correlation length scales are used to both maximize and limit the spatial extent of influence of the limited data in the Antarctic region. The correlation length scales are generally largest in summer and over the Antarctic continent, while they are shortest over the winter sea ice. Gridded analyses of temperature anomalies, limited to regions within a correlation length scale of at least one observation, show agreement with reanalyses and satellite-derived analyses. Trends calculated for the 1958-2002 period show modest warming over much of 50-90°S with maximum warming over the Antarctic Peninsula, but trends computed using these analyses show considerable sensitivity to start and end dates. Trends calculated using start dates prior to 1965 show overall warming, while using start dates from 1966-1982 show net cooling over the region. Composite (11-model) GCM-simulations for 1958-2002 with forcing from historic greenhouse gas concentrations show warming patterns and magnitudes similar to the corresponding observed trends. GCM projections for 2001-2100, however, discontinue the pattern of strongest warming over the Antarctic Peninsula, but instead show the strongest warming over the Antarctic continent. 1. |
|---|