HR: 09:15h
AN: GC21A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Is global warming apparent from Greenland and Iceland air and sea temperature records?
AU: * Hanna, E
EM:
AF: University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield, S5 7BL United Kingdom
AU: Cappelen, J
EM: jc@dmi.dk
AF: Danish Meteorological Institute, Lyngbyvej 100, Copenhagen, DK-2100 Denmark
AU: Jonsson, T
EM: trausti@vedur.is
AF: Icelandic Meteorological Office, Bustadavegar 9, Reykjavik, IS-150 Iceland
AB: Here we examine and inter-compare newly homogenised, long-term (>30-50 years) meteorological station records from Greenland and Iceland, which lie in a particularly climatically sensitive region, for evidence of climatic change and 'global warming'. We contrast annual and monthly air temperature series, updated to 2005 and presented here for the first time, with sea-surface-temperature data from the adjacent northern North Atlantic, and assess their respective trends and variations. Corroborating evidence comes from changes in the Greenland Sea/northern Iceland sea-ice margin. This all reflects the changing juxtaposition of different oceanic as well as air masses. Overall, Greenland and Iceland warmed rapidly since ~1985 (Iceland) and ~1992 (Greenland) but are only just getting back up to around their C20th peak of the 1930s/40s. It is significant that the Greenland and Iceland air temperature records do not closely reflect global mean temperature variations over the past few decades, thus emphasising the importance of ensuring accurate regional model projections (future climate scenarios) for this key area. Most recently there was record summer warmth in Iceland in 2003 and 2004, and in Greenland in 2005. The latter is of especial interest as even a 2-3°C rise in summer mean temperature results in significantly enhanced melt and mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Lead-lag correlation and spectral analyses of air and sea temperatures and the NAO index enable us to evaluate the relative roles of air-sea interaction and atmospheric circulation changes in forcing the climate of the northern North Atlantic.
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 1637 Regional climate change
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005