| Summary: | Warming trends in some parts of Alaska have previously been linked to the degradation of permafrost, water resources, and community infrastructure. As the topic of climate change continues to garner media attention and public interest, temperature trend estimations are likely to play a greater role in Alaska’s decision-making and development of policy. Climate reports, as well as summaries put forth to the public, should ensure appropriate choices of time scale, starting and ending reference dates, and statistical approach in the analysis of multidecade data sets. What may seem to be simple or arbitrary choices in these matters could potentially infuse significant bias into the interpretation of data, thereby distorting the representation of climate variability in Alaska and handicapping potential strategies for response. In this paper we demonstrate and emphasize how the use of different time scales, reference dates, and statistical approaches can generate highly disparate results, suggesting that careful use of these tools is critical for correctly interpreting and reporting climatic trends in Alaska and other polar regions.
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