Antarctic temperatures over the past two centuries from ice cores

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Editor's Highlight Read Full Article (file size: 1061163 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L16707, doi:10.1029/2006GL027057, 2006 Antarctic temperatures over the past two centuries from ice cores David P. Schneider Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA Eric J. Steig Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA Tas D. van Ommen Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Antarctic Division, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Daniel A. Dixon Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA Paul A. Mayewski Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA Julie M. Jones Institute for Coastal Research, GKSS Research Centre, Geesthacht, Germany Cecilia M. Bitz Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA Abstract We present a reconstruction of Antarctic mean surface temperatures over the past two centuries based on water stable isotope records from high-resolution, precisely dated ice cores. Both instrumental and reconstructed temperatures indicate large interannual to decadal scale variability, with the dominant pattern being anti-phase anomalies between the main Antarctic continent and the Antarctic Peninsula region. Comparative analysis of the instrumental Southern Hemisphere (SH) mean temperature record and the reconstruction suggests that at longer timescales, temperatures over the Antarctic continent vary in phase with the SH mean. Our reconstruction suggests that Antarctic temperatures have increased by about 0.2°C since the late nineteenth century. The variability and the long-term trends are strongly modulated by the SH Annular Mode in the atmospheric circulation. Received 30 May 2006; accepted 24 July 2006; published 30 August 2006. Index Terms: 0724 Cryosphere: Ice cores (4932); 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 3344 Atmospheric Processes: Paleoclimatology (0473, 4900); 3349 Atmospheric Processes: Polar meteorology; 3309 Atmospheric Processes: Climatology (1616, 1620, 3305, 4215, 8408). Read Full Article (file size: 1061163 bytes) Cited by Citation: Schneider, D. P., E. J. Steig, T. D. van Ommen, D. A. Dixon, P. A. Mayewski, J. M. Jones, and C. M. Bitz (2006), Antarctic temperatures over the past two centuries from ice cores, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L16707, doi:10.1029/2006GL027057. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

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