1. Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling
- Author
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H. John B. Birks, Anne Elisabeth Bjune, Pierre Francus, Bo Vinther, Timothy Cook, Yarrow Axford, David Schneider, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Keith Briffa, Nicholas McKay, and Heikki Seppä
- Subjects
Multidisciplinary ,Meteorology ,Arctic ,Climatology ,Trend surface analysis ,Global warming ,Paleoclimatology ,Community Climate System Model ,Climate change ,Environmental science ,Global change ,Atmospheric temperature - Abstract
Climate Reversal The climate and environment of the Arctic have changed drastically over the short course of modern observation. Kaufman et al. (p. 1236 ) synthesized 2000 years of proxy data from lakes above 60° N latitude with complementary ice core and tree ring records, to create a paleoclimate reconstruction for the Arctic with a 10-year resolution. A gradual cooling trend at the start of the record had reversed by the beginning of the 20th century, when temperatures began to increase rapidly. The long-term cooling of the Arctic is consistent with a reduction in summer solar insolation caused by changes in Earth's orbit, while the rapid and large warming of the past century is consistent with the human-caused warming.
- Published
- 2009
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