| Summary: | Based on air temperature data from three sites of West andEast Greenland, on ice charts for the area 54°N, 71°N and20°W, 70°W, and on CTD profile observations aroundGreenland, the annual variability of climate is shown. Meanmonthly air temperature data from Nuuk/West Greenlandreveal the long-term interannual changes of air temperatureanomalies. The warming trend which was observed duringNovember, December 1995 was maintained into 1996 forabout five months. Thus, spring warming of the near surfacewater layers, especially on the shallow bank areas off WestGreenland has been favoured. As a result of mild airtemperatures over most of 1996, sea ice conditions were about normal around Greenland and off eastern Canada. Subsurface observations indicate considerable warming of the 0-200 m water layer off West Greenland. The thermal anomaly of this layer amounts to +1.59K, which is the second highest value on record since the warm 1964 event. The warmer than normal conditions as recorded since November 1995 off East and West Greenland, point at intermediate warming which is characteristic of the second half of the recent decades. The long-term trend of air temperature anomalies off West Greenland points, however, still at cooling, a trend which is persistent since the early 1970s. As the potential driving mechanism for the intermediate warming in the Labrador Sea area, the sea level air pressure gradient between Iceland and the Azores is identified. The 1996 value of this gradient, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) Index, is strongly negative and this represents the flow of mild air masses from the midlatitude Atlantic Ocean to the Greenland/Labrador Sea region. Accordingly, air temperature anomalies indicated unusual warming during the month of February which amounted to >2K in the region of Baffin Land, Labrador and Greenland. Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries began publishing the Informationen aus der Fischereiforschung = Information on ...
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