Rapid temperature increases above the Antarctic

3 April 2006

A new analysis of weather balloon observations from the last 30 years reveals that the Antarctic has the same 'global warming' signature as that seen across the whole Earth, but is three times larger than that observed globally.

The results by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are reported in Science.

Although the rapid surface warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region has been known for some time, this study has produced the first indications of broad-scale climate change across the whole Antarctic continent.

Lead author Dr John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey says, "The rapid surface warming of the Antarctic Peninsula and the enhanced global warming signal over the whole continent shows the complexity of climate change. Greenhouses gases could be having a bigger impact in Antarctica than across the rest of the world and we don't understand why. So far we haven't been able to determine the mechanisms behind the warming.

"The warming above the Antarctic could have implications for snowfall across the Antarctic and sea level rise. Current climate model simulations don't reproduce the observed warming, pointing to weaknesses in their ability to represent the Antarctic climate system. Our next step is to try to improve the models."

The paper 'Significant warming of the Antarctic winter troposphere' was published in Science on 30 March 2006.

For the full press release with detailed notes for editors please visit the BAS website.

Further information

Dr John Turner
Tel: 01223 221485

Linda Capper
British Antarctic Survey Press Office
Tel: 01223 221448
Mob: 07714 233744

Notes

1. The British Antarctic Survey is one of the Natural Environment Research Council's research centres.

Rapid temperature increases above the Antarctic

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