Quote:
Originally Posted by zimmy
Warming was most extreme this past year in two regions. The first covers most of Canada and Greenland, with mean temperatures for the year increasing by upwards of 3°C (5.4°F). The second region extends from northern Africa to the western portion of China, which saw increases between 1 and 3°C (1.8 and 5.4°F).
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Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L11707, 13 June 2006, doi:10.1029/2006GL026510.
Greenland warming of 1920–1930 and 1995–2005
Petr Chylek
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Space and Remote Sensing Sciences, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
M. K. Dubey
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
G. Lesins
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Received 10 April 2006; accepted 9 May 2006; published 13 June 2006.
extracts from this paper: (from CCNet, Benny Peiser)
Abstract:
We provide an analysis of Greenland temperature records to compare the current (1995-2005) warming period with the previous (1920-1930) Greenland warming.
We find that the current Greenland warming is not unprecedented in recent Greenland history. Temperature increases in the two warming periods are of a similar magnitude, however, the
rate of warming in 1920-1930 was about 50% higher than that in 1995 - 2005.
[...]
5. Discussion and Conclusion
[14] We have analyzed temperature time series from available Greenland locations and we have found that:
[15] i) The years 1995 to 2005 have been characterized by generally increasing temperatures at the Greenland coastal stations. The year 2003 was extremely warm on the southeastern coast of Greenland. The average annual temperature and the average summer temperature for 2003 at Ammassalik was a record high since 1895. The years 2004 and 2005 were closer to normal being well below temperatures reached in 1930s and 1940s (Figure 2).
Although the annual average temperatures and the average summer temperatures at Godthab Nuuk, representing the southwestern coast, were also increasing during the 1995-2005 period, they stayed generally below the values typical for the 1920-1940 period.
[16] ii) The 1955 to 2005 averages of the summer temperatures and the temperatures of the warmest month at both Godthaab Nuuk and Ammassalik are significantly lower than the corresponding averages for the previous 50 years (1905-1955). The summers at both the southwestern and the southeastern coast of Greenland were significantly colder within the 1955-2005 period compared to the 1905-1955 years.
[17] iii) Although the last decade of 1995-2005 was relatively warm, almost all decades within 1915 to 1965 were even warmer at both the southwestern (Godthab Nuuk) and the southeastern (Ammassalik) coasts of Greenland.
[18] iv)
The Greenland warming of the 1995-2005 period is similar to the warming of 1920-1930, although the rate of temperature increase was by about 50% higher during the 1920-1930 warming period.
does not sound unprecedented
