IT鈥橲 official: all of Antarctica is warming. This overturns previous suggestions that only the Antarctic Peninsula is heating up, while the continent鈥檚 interior cooled.
The majority of weather stations on Antarctica sit around the coast, with only two providing an unbroken record from the continent鈥檚 interior. This has given a misleading picture of climate trends over the continent.
Eric Steig of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues used satellite data and statistical techniques to fill in the gaps left by the sparse network of weather stations. The revised records show that between 1957 and 2006 temperatures rose by around 0.5 掳C, with the strongest warming occurring over western Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula (Nature, vol 457, p 459).
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鈥淭he decline in sea ice cover in the Amundsen Sea appears to be linked to the warming of west Antarctica,鈥� says co-author David Schneider of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Regional changes in atmospheric circulation may also play a role.
Previously, scientists believed the apparent cooling of the continent was linked to the depletion of the ozone layer, causing a strengthening of the circumpolar winds and preventing warm air from reaching the interior. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 question this mechanism, but the underlying warming trend suggests that a lot more is going on,鈥� says Schneider.