Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years
Determining the timing and impact of anthropogenic climate change in data-sparse regions is a considerable challenge. Arguably, nowhere is this more difficult than the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic South Atlantic where observational records are relatively short but where high rates of war...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10464 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 |
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ftunivwaikato:oai:researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz:10289/10464 2023-10-09T21:44:30+02:00 Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years Turney, Chris S.M. Jones, Richard T. Lister, David Jones, Phil Williams, Alan N. Hogg, Alan G. Thomas, Zoë A. Compo, Gibert P. Yin, Xungang Fogwill, Christopher J. Palmer, Jonathan Colwell, Steve Allan, Rob Visbeck, Martin 2016 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10464 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 en eng IOP Publishing Ltd http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009/meta;jsessionid=CC6A76740B49BD96778CC34562167C46.c1.iopscience.cld.iop.org Environmental Research Letters Turney, C. S. M., Jones, R. T., Lister, D., Jones, P., Williams, A. N., Hogg, A. G., … Visbeck, M. (2016). Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years. Environmental Research Letters, 11(6), 064009–064009. http://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10464 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 1748-9326 This article is published under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. southern annular mode (SAM) Southern Hemisphere westerlies subantarctic climate extremes temperature climate reanalysis anthropogenic climate change El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Journal Article 2016 ftunivwaikato https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 2023-09-12T17:24:57Z Determining the timing and impact of anthropogenic climate change in data-sparse regions is a considerable challenge. Arguably, nowhere is this more difficult than the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic South Atlantic where observational records are relatively short but where high rates of warming have been experienced since records began. Here we interrogate recently developed monthly-resolved observational datasets from the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and extend the records back using climate-sensitive peat growth over the past 6000 years. Investigating the subantarctic climate data with ERA-Interim and Twentieth Century Reanalysis, we find that a stepped increase in precipitation across the 1940s is related to a change in synoptic atmospheric circulation: a westward migration of quasi-permanent positive pressure anomalies in the South Atlantic has brought the subantarctic islands under the increased influence of meridional airflow associated with the Amundsen Sea Low. Analysis of three comprehensively multi-dated (using 14C and 137Cs) peat sequences across the two islands demonstrates unprecedented growth rates since the mid-twentieth century relative to the last 6000 years. Comparison to observational and reconstructed sea surface temperatures suggests this change is linked to a warming tropical Pacific Ocean. Our results imply ‘modern’ South Atlantic atmospheric circulation has not been under this configuration for millennia. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula The University of Waikato: Research Commons Amundsen Sea Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Pacific The Antarctic Environmental Research Letters 11 6 064009 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Waikato: Research Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwaikato |
language |
English |
topic |
southern annular mode (SAM) Southern Hemisphere westerlies subantarctic climate extremes temperature climate reanalysis anthropogenic climate change El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
spellingShingle |
southern annular mode (SAM) Southern Hemisphere westerlies subantarctic climate extremes temperature climate reanalysis anthropogenic climate change El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Turney, Chris S.M. Jones, Richard T. Lister, David Jones, Phil Williams, Alan N. Hogg, Alan G. Thomas, Zoë A. Compo, Gibert P. Yin, Xungang Fogwill, Christopher J. Palmer, Jonathan Colwell, Steve Allan, Rob Visbeck, Martin Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
topic_facet |
southern annular mode (SAM) Southern Hemisphere westerlies subantarctic climate extremes temperature climate reanalysis anthropogenic climate change El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) |
description |
Determining the timing and impact of anthropogenic climate change in data-sparse regions is a considerable challenge. Arguably, nowhere is this more difficult than the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic South Atlantic where observational records are relatively short but where high rates of warming have been experienced since records began. Here we interrogate recently developed monthly-resolved observational datasets from the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and extend the records back using climate-sensitive peat growth over the past 6000 years. Investigating the subantarctic climate data with ERA-Interim and Twentieth Century Reanalysis, we find that a stepped increase in precipitation across the 1940s is related to a change in synoptic atmospheric circulation: a westward migration of quasi-permanent positive pressure anomalies in the South Atlantic has brought the subantarctic islands under the increased influence of meridional airflow associated with the Amundsen Sea Low. Analysis of three comprehensively multi-dated (using 14C and 137Cs) peat sequences across the two islands demonstrates unprecedented growth rates since the mid-twentieth century relative to the last 6000 years. Comparison to observational and reconstructed sea surface temperatures suggests this change is linked to a warming tropical Pacific Ocean. Our results imply ‘modern’ South Atlantic atmospheric circulation has not been under this configuration for millennia. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Turney, Chris S.M. Jones, Richard T. Lister, David Jones, Phil Williams, Alan N. Hogg, Alan G. Thomas, Zoë A. Compo, Gibert P. Yin, Xungang Fogwill, Christopher J. Palmer, Jonathan Colwell, Steve Allan, Rob Visbeck, Martin |
author_facet |
Turney, Chris S.M. Jones, Richard T. Lister, David Jones, Phil Williams, Alan N. Hogg, Alan G. Thomas, Zoë A. Compo, Gibert P. Yin, Xungang Fogwill, Christopher J. Palmer, Jonathan Colwell, Steve Allan, Rob Visbeck, Martin |
author_sort |
Turney, Chris S.M. |
title |
Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
title_short |
Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
title_full |
Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
title_fullStr |
Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
title_full_unstemmed |
Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
title_sort |
anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the south atlantic compared to the last 6000 years |
publisher |
IOP Publishing Ltd |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10464 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Pacific The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Pacific The Antarctic |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
op_relation |
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009/meta;jsessionid=CC6A76740B49BD96778CC34562167C46.c1.iopscience.cld.iop.org Environmental Research Letters Turney, C. S. M., Jones, R. T., Lister, D., Jones, P., Williams, A. N., Hogg, A. G., … Visbeck, M. (2016). Anomalous mid-twentieth century atmospheric circulation change over the South Atlantic compared to the last 6000 years. Environmental Research Letters, 11(6), 064009–064009. http://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10464 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 1748-9326 |
op_rights |
This article is published under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064009 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
064009 |
_version_ |
1779310823398703104 |