Evidence of high-elevation amplification versus Arctic amplification

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Wang, Qixiang, Fan, Xiaohui, Wang, Mengben
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2016
• Subjects: Article; Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4709741/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26753547; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19219

Elevation-dependent warming in high-elevation regions and Arctic amplification are of tremendous interest to many scientists who are engaged in studies in climate change. Here, using annual mean temperatures from 2781 global stations for the 1961–2010 period, we find that the warming for the world’s high-elevation stations (>500 m above sea level) is clearly stronger than their low-elevation counterparts; and the high-elevation amplification consists of not only an altitudinal amplification but also a latitudinal amplification. The warming for the high-elevation stations is linearly proportional to the temperature lapse rates along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients, as a result of the functional shape of Stefan-Boltzmann law in both vertical and latitudinal directions. In contrast, neither altitudinal amplification nor latitudinal amplification is found within the Arctic region despite its greater warming than lower latitudes. Further analysis shows that the Arctic amplification is an integrated part of the latitudinal amplification trend for the low-elevation stations (≤500 m above sea level) across the entire low- to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere, also a result of the mathematical shape of Stefan-Boltzmann law but only in latitudinal direction.