Ice core evidence for significant 100-year regional warming on the Antarctic Peninsula

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Thomas, E. R., Dennis, P. F., Bracegirdle, T. J., Franzke, C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; ice core
• Online Access: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/24329/; https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL040104

We present a new 150-year, high-resolution, stable isotope record (d18O) from the Gomez ice core, drilled on the data sparse south western Antarctic Peninsula, revealing a ~2.7°C rise in surface temperatures since the 1950s. The record is highly correlated with satellite-derived temperature reconstructions and instrumental records from Faraday station on the north west coast, thus making it a robust proxy for local and regional temperatures since the 1850s. We conclude that the exceptional 50-year warming, previously only observed in the northern Peninsula, is not just a local phenomena but part of a statistically significant 100-year regional warming trend that began around 1900. A suite of coupled climate models are employed to demonstrate that the 50 and 100 year temperature trends are outside of the expected range of variability from pre-industrial control runs, indicating that the warming is likely the result of external climate forcing.