Thursday, February 14, 2013

Six weeks of climate data: Northern Polar Region #8, 150° to 120° West


The next region is the parts of Canada and Alaska bordering the Beaufort Sea.  We get a little more land mass than the previous slice and more of it is near the North Pole.


There were 4,945 readings in this region, but that one big black dot tells us a lot of the stations are in the northern Canadian town of Inuvik.


The Winter readings show a general increase in the low temperatures and median, but the record high average happened over 30 years ago. More than that, while the median increases, it increases more slowly each time.



Spring shows some bouncing around. The noticeable upward trend is the split between the 1975-1988 interval and the 1988-1999 interval. The first decade of the 21st Century was cooler than the last of the 20th Century.



Again, the big jump was at the year 1988 and the interval after 1999 was not warmer than the previous.


Only Fall shows steady warming and a new record high in the most recent decade.

Most warmest readings: 1999-2010 with 6 of 12, 1988-1999 with 5 of 12.

Most 2nd warmest readings: both 1999-2010 and 1988-1999 get 5 of 12.

Most 3nd warmest readings: 1975-1988 with 7 of 12.

 Most coldest readings: 1955-1975 with 9.

Is this region warming from interval to interval? The best arguments say no. The last two are warmer than the first, but the 1990s and the 2000s are too much alike to say warming took place.

Is the rate of warming increasing? Here the data points to no. It does show a big jump in the Fall data, but in every other season it's a small step up or a step down.

Tomorrow, the rest of Arctic Canada and the westernmost tip of Greenland.

No comments:

Post a Comment