Recent climate trends

• Main Authors: Raphael, MN, Hobbs, WR, Marshall, GJ, Stammerjohn, SE
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Academic Press 2020
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Climate change science; Climatology; Arctic; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarc*; Antarctica; Climate change; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128179253000136?via%3Dihub; https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817925-3.00013-6; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/145274

In concert with the rest of the world, the climate of Antarctica is changing. This change is seen in keyclimate parameters, such as the atmospheric circulation, surface air temperature, precipitation, sea iceextent, and the temperature of the Southern Ocean. Surface air temperatures are increasing, and indeedfor the second half of the 20th century, the temperature increase on the Antarctic Peninsula was amongthe largest experienced on Earth (Steig et al., 2009). Total sea ice extent is not decreasing, as is occurringin the Arctic, but the deeper levels of the Southern Ocean are warming, similar to most otheroceans. The changes are not uniform in time or space and are due to remote and proximate influences.This chapter discusses the changes in climate at the surface and the deep ocean, including the role thatthe leading atmospheric circulation modes play in promoting the surface change. The contributions ofnatural variability and anthropogenic influences are noted as they combine with the complex nature ofrelationships between the sea ice, the atmosphere, and the ocean to present a challenge to our understandingof the factors underlying recent changes in Antarctic climate. Woven through the discussion isthe realization that establishing and understanding the current changes in Antarctic climate as well asmaking projections of future changes are hampered by the sparsity of observations and the limitationsof climate models.