Browsing by Author "Stearns, Charles R."
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Item Decadal-Length Composite Inland West Antarctic Temperature Records(AMS, 2001-05-01) Shuman, Christopher A.; Stearns, Charles R.Decadal-length, daily average, temperature records have been generated for four inland West Antarctic sites by combining automatic weather station (AWS) and satellite passive microwave brightness temperature records. These records are composites due to the difficulty in maintaining continuously operating AWS in Antarctica for multiyear to multidecade periods. Calibration of 37-GHz, vertical polarization, brightness temperature data during periods of known air temperature by emissivity modeling allows the resulting calibrated brightness temperatures (TC) to be inserted into data gaps with constrained errors. By the same technique, but with reduced constraints, TC data were also developed through periods before AWS unit installation or after removal. The resulting composite records indicate that temperature change is not consistent in sign or magnitude from location to location across the West Antarctic region. Linear regression analysis shows an approximate 0.9°C increase over 19 yr at AWS Byrd (0.045 yr⁻¹ ±0.135°C), a 0.9°C cooling over 12 yr at AWS Lettau (−0.078 yr⁻¹ ±0.178°C), a 3°C cooling over 10 yr at AWS Lynn (−0.305 yr⁻¹ ±0.314°C), and a 2°C warming over 19 yr at AWS Siple (0.111 yr⁻¹ ±0.079°C). Only the Siple trend is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level however. The temperature increases at Siple and possibly Byrd are suggestive of a broader regional warming documented at sites on the Antarctic Peninsula. The cooling suggested by the shorter records in the vicinity of the Ross Ice Shelf is consistent with results recently reported by Comiso and suggests that significant regional differences exist. Continued data acquisition should enable detection of the magnitude and direction of potential longer-term changes.Item A Dozen Years of Temperature Observations at the Summit: Central Greenland Automatic Weather Stations 1987–99(AMS, 2001-04-01) Shuman, Christopher; Steffen, Konrad; Box, Jason E.; Stearns, Charles R.On 4 May 1987, the first automatic weather station (AWS) near the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet began transmitting data. Air temperature records from this site, AWS Cathy, as well as nearby AWS at the Greenland Ice Sheet Project II (GISP2, now Summit) camp have been combined with Special Sensor Microwave Imager brightness temperature data to create a composite temperature history of the Greenland summit. This decadal-plus-length (4536 days) record covers the period from May 1987 to October 1999 and continues currently. The record is derived primarily from near-surface temperature data from AWS Cathy (May 1987–May 1989), AWS GISP2 (June 1989–November 1996), and AWS Summit (May 1996 and continuing). Despite the 35-km distance between them, the AWS Cathy data have been converted to the equivalent basis of temperatures from the AWS GISP2 and AWS Summit locations. The now completed “Summit” temperature time series represents a unique record that documents a multiyear temperature recovery after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991 and that initiates a baseline needed for climate change detection.