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Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades

Author

Listed:
  • Kyle R. Clem

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

  • Ryan L. Fogt

    (Ohio University)

  • John Turner

    (British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council)

  • Benjamin R. Lintner

    (Rutgers University)

  • Gareth J. Marshall

    (British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council)

  • James R. Miller

    (Rutgers University)

  • James A. Renwick

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

Abstract

Over the last three decades, the South Pole has experienced a record-high statistically significant warming of 0.61 ± 0.34 °C per decade, more than three times the global average. Here, we use an ensemble of climate model experiments to show this recent warming lies within the upper bounds of the simulated range of natural variability. The warming resulted from a strong cyclonic anomaly in the Weddell Sea caused by increasing sea surface temperatures in the western tropical Pacific. This circulation, coupled with a positive polarity of the Southern Annular Mode, advected warm and moist air from the South Atlantic into the Antarctic interior. These results underscore the intimate linkage of interior Antarctic climate to tropical variability. Further, this study shows that atmospheric internal variability can induce extreme regional climate change over the Antarctic interior, which has masked any anthropogenic warming signal there during the twenty-first century.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyle R. Clem & Ryan L. Fogt & John Turner & Benjamin R. Lintner & Gareth J. Marshall & James R. Miller & James A. Renwick, 2020. "Record warming at the South Pole during the past three decades," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(8), pages 762-770, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:10:y:2020:i:8:d:10.1038_s41558-020-0815-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-0815-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Ayat-Allah Bouramdane, 2022. "Assessment of CMIP6 Multi-Model Projections Worldwide: Which Regions Are Getting Warmer and Are Going through a Drought in Africa and Morocco? What Changes from CMIP5 to CMIP6?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-32, December.
    2. Pierre Rostan & Alexandra Rostan, 2023. "The benefit of the Covid‐19 pandemic on global temperature projections," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(8), pages 2079-2098, December.
    3. Murat Cetin & Gonca Yilmaz, 2021. "The Need For A Circular Economy Towards The Danger of The Continuity of Pandemics," Journal of Economic Policy Researches, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 225-255, July.

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