Decadal Changes in the Near-Surface Air Temperature in the Western Side of the Antarctic Peninsula

Jorge F. Carrasco

Dirección Meteorológica de Chile, Estación Central, Chile.

DOI: 10.4236/acs.2013.33029                

Abstract

An analysis of the minimum air temperature behavior was carried out for the southern tip of South America and the western side of the Antarctica Peninsula. Punta Arenas shows an overall annual warming of 0.15°C per decade during the 1960-2010 period, although this occurred mainly in the summer and winter seasons. The trend of the air temperature in the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula shows an increase until around 2000, but the warming rate during the last 2001-2010 decade has been less than previous decades; in particular, meteorological stations in King George Island show slight cooling. The lineal annual warming per decade as shown by Bellingshausen, Verndsky/Faraday and Rothera stations are 0.26°C ± 0.75°C, 0.55°C ± 1.26°C and 0.69°C ± 1.31°C; for the respectively, 1969-2010, 1951-2010 and 1978-2010 periods. These rates of warming are slightly lower than those found for the same stations but for the 1969-2000, 1951-2000 and 1978-2000 periods.

Keywords

Air Temperature; Exponential Filter; Global Warming; Antarctic Peninsula

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	IPCC, “Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” In: S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K. B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H. L. Miller, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 2007.
[2]	IPCC, “Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” In: M. L. Parry, O. F. Canziani, J. P. Palutikof, P. J. van der Linden and C. E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.
[3]	IPCC, “Climate Change 2007: Mitigation, Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” In: B. Metz, O. R. Davidson, P. R. Bosch, R. Dave, L. A. Meyer, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 2007.
[4]	P. D. Jones, D. H. Lister, T. J. Osbom, C. Harphan, M. Salmon and C. P. Morice, “Hemispheric and Large-Scale Land-Surface Air Temperature Variations: An Extensive Revision and Update to 2010,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 117, 2012, Article ID: D05127.
[5]	J. Hansen, R. Ruedy, M. Sato and K. Lo, “Global Surface Temperature Change,” Review of Geophysics, Vol. 48, No. 4, 2010, Article ID: RG4004. doi:10.1029/2010RG000345
[6]	D. G. Vaughan, G. J. Marshall, W. M. Connolley, C. Parkinson, N. R. Mulvaney, D. A. Hodgson, J. C. King, C. J. Pudsey and J. Turner, “Recent Rapid Regional Climate Warming on the Antarctic Peninsula,” Climatic Change, Vol. 60, No. 3, 2003, pp. 243-274. doi:10.1023/A:1026021217991
[7]	Q. Din, D. S. Batisti and M. Kuttel, “Winter Warming in West Antarctica Caused by Central Tropical Pacific Warming,” Nature Geoscience, Vol. 4, No. 6, 2011, pp. 398-403. doi:10.1038/ngeo1129
[8]	J. Turner, J. C. Comiso, G. J. Marshall, T. A. LachanCope, M. A. Carleton, P. D. Jones, V. Lagun, P. A. Reid and S. Iagovkina, “Antarctic Climate Change during the Last 50 Years,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 25, No. 8, 2005, pp. 279-294. doi:10.1002/joc.1130
[9]	Q. Din, D. S. Batisti and M. Kuttel, “Winter Warming in West Antarctica Caused by Central Tropical Pacific Warming,” Nature Geoscience, Vol. 4, No. 6, 2011, pp. 398-403. doi:10.1038/ngeo1129
[10]	D. H. Bromwich, J. P. Nicolas, A. Monaghan, M. A. Lazzara. L. M. Keller, G. A. Weidner and A. B. Wilson, “Central West Antarctica among the Most Rapidly Warming Regions on Earth,” Nature Geoscience, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2012, pp. 139-145.
[11]	P. T. Doran, J. C. Priscu, W. B. Lyons, J. E. Walsh, A. G. Fountain, D. M. McKnight, D. L. Moorhead, R. A. Virginia, D. H. Wall, G. D. Clow, C. H. Fritsen, C. P. McKay and A. N. Parsons, “Antarctic Climate Cooling and Terrestrial Ecosystem Response,” Nature, Vol. 415, No. 6871, 2002, pp. 517-520. doi:10.1038/nature710
[12]	A. J. Monaghan, D. H. Bromwich, W. Chapman and J. C. Comiso, “Recent Variability and Trends of Antarctic NearSurface Temperature,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 113, No. 457, 2008, Article ID: D04105. doi:10.1029/2007JD009094
[13]	J. Turner, T. A. Lachan-Cope, S. Colwell, G. J. Marshall, and W. M. Connolley, “Significant Warming of the Antarctic Winter Troposphere,” Science, Vol. 311, No. 5769, 2006, pp. 1914-1917. doi:10.1126/science.1121652
[14]	W. Schwerdtfeger, “Weather and Climate of the Antarctic,” Elsevier, New York, 1984.
[15]	D. G. Vaughan, J. L. Bamber, M. Giovinetto, J. Russell and A. P. R. Cooper, “Reassessment of Net Surface Mass Balance in Antarctica,” Journal of Climate, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1999, pp. 933-946. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<0933:RONSMB>2.0.CO;2
[16]	A. J. Cook and D. G. Vaughan, “Overview of Areal Changes of the Ice Shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula over the Past 50 Years,” The Cryosphere, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2010, pp. 77-98. doi:10.5194/tc-4-77-2010
[17]	E. Rignot, G. Casassa, P. Gogineni, W. Krabill, A. Rivera and R. Thomas, “Accelerated Ice Discharge from the Antarctic Peninsula Following the Collapse of Larsen B Ice Shelf,” Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 31, No. 18, 2004, Article ID: L18401. doi:10.1029/2004GL020697
[18]	A. W. Setzer, F. E. Aquino and R. M. O. Romao, “Climate Tendencies in the South Shetlands: Was 1998 a Climate Divider?” Antarctic Peninsula Climate Variability: Observed, Models and Plans for IPY Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, 14-16 May 2006.
[19]	A. W. Setzer and R. M. O. Romao, “Recent Cooling in the North of the Antarctic Peninsula,” 4th SCAR Open Science Conference, Buenos Aires, 2010.
[20]	J. F. Carrasco, “Red de Estaciones de Observación Atmosférica en la Antártica, una Colaboración Internacional Para la Investigación del Cambio Climático,” Anales Instituto Patagonia, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2012, pp. 57-63. doi:10.4067/S0718-686X2012000100006
[21]	B. Rosenbluth, H. A. Fuenzalida and P. Aceituno, “Recent Temperatures Variations in Southern South America,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 17, 1997, pp. 67-85. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199701)17:1<67::AID-JOC120>3.0.CO;2-G
[22]	B. S. Giese, S. C. Urizar and N. S. Fuckar, “Southern Hemisphere Origins of the 1976 Climate Shift,” Geophysical Research Letter, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2002, p. 1014. doi:10.1029/2001GL013268
[23]	C. Wang, C. Deser, J.-Y. Yu, P. DiNezio and A. Clement, “El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO): A Review,” In: P. Glymn, D. Manzello and I. Enochs, Eds, Coral Reefs of the Eastern Pacific, Spring Science Publisher, 2012.
[24]	D. W. J. Thompson and S. Solomon, “Interpretation of recent Southern Hemisphere Climate Change,” Science, Vol. 296, No. 5569, 2002, pp. 895-899. doi:10.1126/science.1069270
[25]	D. W. J. Thompson and J. M. Wallace, “Annular Mode in the Extratropical Circulation. Part I: Monthly-to-Month Variability,” Journal of Climate, Vol. 13, 2000, pp. 1000-1006. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<1000:AMITEC>2.0.CO;2
[26]	I. Harris, P. D. Jones, J. T. Osborn and D. H. Lister, “Update High-Resolution Grids of Monthly Climatic Observations,” International Journal of Climatology, 2012, in Press. doi:10.1002/joc.3711
[27]	R. D. Garreaud and D. S. Battisti, “Interannual (ENSO) and Interdecadal (ENSO-Like) Variability in the Southern Hemisphere Tropospheric Circulation,” Journal of Climate, Vol. 12, No. 7, 1999, pp. 2113-2123. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<2113:IEAIEL>2.0.CO;2
[28]	S. Salomon, K. H. Rosenlof, R. W. Portmann, J. S. Daniel, S. M. Davis, T. J. Sanford and G.-K. Plattner, “Contributions of Stratospheric Water Vapor to Decadal Changes in the Rate of Global Warming,” Science, Vol. 327, No. 5970, 2010, pp. 1219-1223. doi:10.1126/science.1182488