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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 89, NO. 19, doi:10.1029/2008EO190001, 2008

The Arctic and Antarctic: Two Faces of Climate Change

James Overland

NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Wash., USA


John Turner

British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK


Jennifer Francis

Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. J., USA


Nathan Gillett

Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK


Gareth Marshall

British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK


Michael Tjernström

Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden


Abstract

Although both the Arctic and Antarctic are subject to a similar annual cycle of solar radiation and the same increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, over the previous two decades the two regions have experienced dramatically different changes in sea ice extent, temperature, and other climatic indicators. While these differing responses suggest a paradox, they are largely consistent with known climate dynamics. This conclusion was drawn by scientists participating in the Second Workshop on Recent High Latitude Climate Change, in Seattle, Wash., in October 2007, against the dramatic backdrop of major Arctic sea ice reductions 1 month earlier [World Climate Research Programme, 2007].

Published 6 May 2008.

Index Terms: 1621 Global Change: Cryospheric change (0776); 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513); 4207 Oceanography: General: Arctic and Antarctic oceanography (9310, 9315).

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Citation: Overland, J., J. Turner, J. Francis, N. Gillett, G. Marshall, and M. Tjernström (2008), The Arctic and Antarctic: Two Faces of Climate Change, Eos Trans. AGU, 89(19), doi:10.1029/2008EO190001.