Four weeks of climate data: Arctic Circle recap

We have now looked at three of the six slices of the planet's surface, so this is pretty much halftime in the presentation. I thought it made sense to give a recap of the data so far, starting with the Arctic Circle.

Arctic Circle Region #1

Confidence of the region warming: 99.8%
Confidence of increasing rate: 97.9%
Change in median temperature from the 1955-1975 interval to the 1999-2010 interval: 1.55° C

When numbers are in bold, this means they are significant. Rising more than a degree in about 56 years is serious.

Arctic Circle Region #2


Confidence of the region warming: 99%
Confidence of increasing rate: under 50%

Change in median temperature from the 1955-1975 interval to the 1999-2010 interval: 2.19° C

Arctic Circle Region #3

Confidence of the region warming: 97.7%
Confidence of increasing rate: 99.7%
Change in median temperature from the 1955-1975 interval to the 1999-2010 interval: 2.91° C

Arctic Circle Region #4

Confidence of the region warming: 99.9%
Confidence of increasing rate: at 50%

Change in median temperature from the 1955-1975 interval to the 1999-2010 interval: 2.36° C

Arctic Circle Region #5

Confidence of the region warming: 99.9%
Confidence of increasing rate: 65%

Change in median temperature from the 1955-1975 interval to the 1999-2010 interval: 1.94° C

Arctic Circle Region #6

Confidence of the region warming: 95%
Confidence of increasing rate: 65%

Change in median temperature from the 1955-1975 interval to the 1999-2010 interval: 0.83° C

The big takeaway: The Arctic is warming like crazy. The worldwide change in temperature in this era is less than a degree. In the Arctic, only Greenland is warming that slowly.

My first hypothesis was about people and the relative lack of them in Greenland.  The real difference is albedo, the difference between ice reflecting heat and water absorbing it. The Greenland ice layer is much more constant that the ice sheet on the Arctic Ocean.

Thursday, a re-cap of the Antarctic, a place like Greenland but more so, a massive ice sheet mainly lying above solid ground.