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New Report: Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year

From the journal Nature, via a New York Times article, this new fee based report, Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year, for which Figures and tables as well as Supplementary info are available to readers with no fee.

  • “Here we show that significant warming extends well beyond the Antarctic Peninsula to cover most of West Antarctica, an area of warming much larger than previously reported. West Antarctic warming exceeds 0.1 °C per decade over the past 50 years, and is strongest in winter and spring. Although this is partly offset by autumn cooling in East Antarctica, the continent-wide average near-surface temperature trend is positive. Simulations using a general circulation model reproduce the essential features of the spatial pattern and the long-term trend, and we suggest that neither can be attributed directly to increases in the strength of the westerlies. Instead, regional changes in atmospheric circulation and associated changes in sea surface temperature and sea ice are required to explain the enhanced warming in West Antarctica.”
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