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PMEL Publications Abstract

FY 2010

Air temperature variations on the Atlantic—Arctic boundary since 1802

Wood, K.R., J.E. Overland, T. Jónsson, and B.V. Smoliak

Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L17708, doi: 10.1029/2010GL044176 (2010)

A two-hundred year instrumental record of annual surface air temperature in the Atlantic-Arctic boundary region was reconstructed from four station-based composite time series. The new time series adds seventy-six years to the previously available record. Credibility is supported by ice core records, other temperature proxies, and historical evidence. This record provides new perspective on past climate fluctuations in a region where pivotal climate system processes occur and where unexplained low frequency variations were observed during the 20th century. It is well correlated with sea-surface temperature anomalies, both regionally and in the vicinity of the North Atlantic western boundary current and southern recirculation gyre. The extended instrumental record reveals an irregular pattern of decadal-scale temperature fluctuations over the past two centuries. The early 20th century warming event is by far the most striking historical example.

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