– contributed by Thomas Bracegirdle, AntClim21 Chief Officer
A new paper has just been published by Mayewski et al. which contributes to one of the primary goals of the SCAR initiated AntClim21 (Antarctic Climate in the 21st Century) Scientific Research Programme to apply understanding of past and present climate as analogs for future Antarctic and Southern Hemisphere climate. The emphasis, in this paper, is on changes in atmospheric circulation because the atmosphere rapidly transports heat, moisture, momentum, and pollutants, throughout the middle to high latitudes. The resulting climate analog examples include: a continuation of the current trend in Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate characterized by some regions of warming and some cooling at the surface of the Southern Ocean, Antarctic ozone healing, a generally warming climate, increases in meridional versus zonal winds, and natural variability. The SCAR Physical Sciences Group are thanked for their generous support in publishing this paper.
Full reference: P.A. Mayewski, A.M. Carleton, S.D. Birkel, D. Dixon, A.V. Kurbatov, E. Korotkikh, J. McConnell, M. Curran, J. Cole-Dai, S. Jiang, C. Plummer, T. Vance, K.A. Maasch, S.B. Sneed, M. Handley, Ice core and climate reanalysis analogs to predict Antarctic and Southern Hemisphere climate changes, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 155, 1 January 2017, Pages 50-66, ISSN 0277-3791, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.11.017.