Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012
One of the few long instrumental records available for the Arctic is the Svalbard Airport composite series that hitherto began in 1911, with observations made on Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. This record has now been extended to 1898 with the inclusion of observations...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2014
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2aeeac7eedcd48b9a27dbb1e3b5fdeb5 2023-05-15T15:00:37+02:00 Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 Øyvind Nordli Rajmund Przybylak Astrid E.J. Ogilvie Ketil Isaksen 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v33.21349 https://doaj.org/article/2aeeac7eedcd48b9a27dbb1e3b5fdeb5 EN eng Norwegian Polar Institute http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/21349/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/0800-0395 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 0800-0395 1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v33.21349 https://doaj.org/article/2aeeac7eedcd48b9a27dbb1e3b5fdeb5 Polar Research, Vol 33, Iss 0, Pp 1-23 (2014) Arctic homogenization Spitsbergen Svalbard temperature records temperature trends Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v33.21349 2022-12-30T21:42:26Z One of the few long instrumental records available for the Arctic is the Svalbard Airport composite series that hitherto began in 1911, with observations made on Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. This record has now been extended to 1898 with the inclusion of observations made by hunting and scientific expeditions. Temperature has been observed almost continuously in Svalbard since 1898, although at different sites. It has therefore been possible to create one composite series for Svalbard Airport covering the period 1898–2012, and this valuable new record is presented here. The series reveals large temperature variability on Spitsbergen, with the early 20th century warming as one striking feature: an abrupt change from the cold 1910s to the local maxima of the 1930s and 1950s. With the inclusion of the new data it is possible to show that the 1910s were colder than the years at the start of the series. From the 1960s, temperatures have increased, so the present temperature level is significantly higher than at any earlier period in the instrumental history. For the entire period, and for all seasons, there are positive, statistically significant trends. Regarding the annual mean, the total trend is 2.6°C/century, whereas the largest trend is in spring, at 3.9°C/century. In Europe, it is the Svalbard Archipelago that has experienced the greatest temperature increase during the latest three decades. The composite series may be downloaded from the home page of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and should be used with reference to the present article. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Polar Research Svalbard Spitsbergen Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Polar Research 33 1 21349 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic homogenization Spitsbergen Svalbard temperature records temperature trends Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic homogenization Spitsbergen Svalbard temperature records temperature trends Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 Øyvind Nordli Rajmund Przybylak Astrid E.J. Ogilvie Ketil Isaksen Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
topic_facet |
Arctic homogenization Spitsbergen Svalbard temperature records temperature trends Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
One of the few long instrumental records available for the Arctic is the Svalbard Airport composite series that hitherto began in 1911, with observations made on Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. This record has now been extended to 1898 with the inclusion of observations made by hunting and scientific expeditions. Temperature has been observed almost continuously in Svalbard since 1898, although at different sites. It has therefore been possible to create one composite series for Svalbard Airport covering the period 1898–2012, and this valuable new record is presented here. The series reveals large temperature variability on Spitsbergen, with the early 20th century warming as one striking feature: an abrupt change from the cold 1910s to the local maxima of the 1930s and 1950s. With the inclusion of the new data it is possible to show that the 1910s were colder than the years at the start of the series. From the 1960s, temperatures have increased, so the present temperature level is significantly higher than at any earlier period in the instrumental history. For the entire period, and for all seasons, there are positive, statistically significant trends. Regarding the annual mean, the total trend is 2.6°C/century, whereas the largest trend is in spring, at 3.9°C/century. In Europe, it is the Svalbard Archipelago that has experienced the greatest temperature increase during the latest three decades. The composite series may be downloaded from the home page of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and should be used with reference to the present article. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Øyvind Nordli Rajmund Przybylak Astrid E.J. Ogilvie Ketil Isaksen |
author_facet |
Øyvind Nordli Rajmund Przybylak Astrid E.J. Ogilvie Ketil Isaksen |
author_sort |
Øyvind Nordli |
title |
Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
title_short |
Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
title_full |
Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
title_fullStr |
Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
title_sort |
long-term temperature trends and variability on spitsbergen: the extended svalbard airport temperature series, 1898–2012 |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v33.21349 https://doaj.org/article/2aeeac7eedcd48b9a27dbb1e3b5fdeb5 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic Polar Research Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Polar Research Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 33, Iss 0, Pp 1-23 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/download/21349/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/0800-0395 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 0800-0395 1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v33.21349 https://doaj.org/article/2aeeac7eedcd48b9a27dbb1e3b5fdeb5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v33.21349 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
21349 |
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1766332690795069440 |