Recent cooling in coastal southern Greenland and relation with the North Atlantic Oscillation

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Hanna, E., Cappelen, J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2003
• Subjects: F860 Climatology; Greenland; Ice Sheet; Labrador Sea; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26065/; https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/26065/1/26065%20Hanna_et_al-2003-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2002gl015797

Analysis of new data for eight stations in coastal southern Greenland, 1958-2001, shows a significant cooling (trend-line change -1.29°C for the 44 years), as do sea-surface temperatures in the adjacent part of the Labrador Sea, in contrast to global warming (+0.53°C over the same period). The land and sea temperature series follow similar patterns and are strongly correlated but with no obvious lead/lag either way. This cooling is significantly inversely correlated with an increased phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over the past few decades (r = -0.76), and will probably have significantly affected the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet.