An analysis of air temperature records for Macquarie Island: decadal warming, ENSO cooling and Southern Hemisphere circulation patterns

D. A. Adamson, P. Whetton, P. M. Selkirk

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    43 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Macquarie Island lies close to the limbs of the Southern Oscillation. Its temperature record matches that of the area east and southeast of New Zealand, rather than Tasmania. It is a sensitive indicator of climatic trends because of its location at high latitude in a longitudinal region of frequent ridge formation and blocking. Temperature records for Macquarie Island (1949-86) show a 1°C warming trend (twice the global average), accelerating in the last 20 years with eight of the ten warmest years occurring in the last decade. The greatest average rate of warming has occurred in late summer and early autumn and the lowest in spring. In severe ENSO years the island cools. -from Authors

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)107-112
    Number of pages6
    JournalPapers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
    Volume122
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 1988

    Keywords

    • atmospheric change
    • climatic warming
    • Southern Oscillation (SO)
    • E Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
    • Macquarie Island

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