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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 32, L14705, doi:10.1029/2005GL023552, 2005

Ratio of the Greenland to global temperature change: Comparison of observations and climate modeling results

Petr Chylek

Space and Remote Sensing Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA


Ulrike Lohmann

Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Zurich, Switzerland


Abstract

Temperature changes over Greenland are of special interest due to a possible melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and resulting sea level rise. General Circulation Models (GCMs) predict that the temperature changes in Greenland should proceed at a faster rate than the global temperature change. Until now there has been no confirmation that Greenland's long-term temperature changes are related to the global warming and that they proceed faster than the global temperature change. Using double correlations between the Greenland temperature records, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and global temperature change we find a region of Greenland that is not affected by the NAO. Using this region as an indicator of Greenland's temperature change that is related to global warming, we find that the ratio of the Greenland to global temperature change due to global warming is 2.2 in broad agreement with GCM predictions.

Received 18 May 2005; accepted 23 June 2005; published 21 July 2005.

Index Terms: 0399 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: General or miscellaneous; 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 1625 Global Change: Geomorphology and weathering (0790, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1886); 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change.

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Citation: Chylek, P., and U. Lohmann (2005), Ratio of the Greenland to global temperature change: Comparison of observations and climate modeling results, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L14705, doi:10.1029/2005GL023552.