Thursday, February 14, 2013

Six weeks of climate data: Northern Polar Region #7, 180° to 150° West


So now we are in the Western Hemisphere of the Arctic Circle, the region shared by Alaska and Siberia, you betcha!

Of course, due to that whole curvature of the Earth thing, you can't actually see Russia from any part of the Arctic Alaskan land mass unless you are very high up and the day is incredibly clear. The close points are slightly south.



3,603 readings in this time range, about twice as many as Region 6 but only a quarter of the readings of Region 1. Three rows of dots tell the story here. In this region, we are measuring the temperature of the land mass and that mass does get very close to the pole.


I've changed the reading of the median to a red dotted line to make it stand out a little more. While the warmest Winter on record is from this century, we only a modest change in the median since a big jump from the first interval (1995-1975) to the second (1975-1988). This would say warming is real in this region but not increasing in speed.


The Spring pattern also shows one big jump, this time from the 1975-1988 to 1988-1999 era. The median this century is actually a little cooler than the previous decade.

Take that, Al Gore.


Season Three: The Wrath of Gore. Here we see steady warming, notably in the low temperatures and in the median. More than that, the record for warmest Summer was broken twice in the Oughts.


Fall also shows the steady warming trend in the median and several seasons in the first decade of the 21st Century warmer than any on record in the last half of the 20th Century.

There were a total of 48 readings, 12 in each season. Intervals can finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th, and ties are possible.

Most warmest readings: 1999-2010 with 9½ of 12.

Most 2nd warmest readings: 1988-1999 with 7½ of 12.

Most 3nd warmest readings: 1975-1988 with 5½ of 12.

 Most coldest readings: 1955-1975 with 8.

Is this region warming from interval to interval? The best arguments say yes. The first era is obviously coldest and the last obviously warmest. The median says yes three times out of four, with every step from left to right going up. 

Is the rate of warming increasing? Debatable. Winter and Spring say no, Fall and Summer say yes.

Later today, the Northeastern corner of Alaska and the Northwestern part of Canada, eh?

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