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Asymmetric seasonal temperature trends
Author(s) -
Cohen Judah L.,
Furtado Jason C.,
Barlow Mathew,
Alexeev Vladimir A.,
Cherry Jessica E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl050582
Subject(s) - global warming , climatology , northern hemisphere , environmental science , global temperature , boreal , climate change , forcing (mathematics) , global change , latitude , southern hemisphere , atmospheric sciences , geography , oceanography , geology , archaeology , geodesy
Current consensus on global climate change predicts warming trends driven by anthropogenic forcing, with maximum temperature changes projected in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) high latitudes during winter. Yet, global temperature trends show little warming over the most recent decade or so. For longer time periods appropriate to the assessment of trends, however, global temperatures have experienced significant warming trends for all seasons except winter, when cooling trends exist instead across large stretches of eastern North America and northern Eurasia. Hence, the most recent lapse in global warming is a seasonal phenomenon, prevalent only in boreal winter. Additionally, we show that the largest regional contributor to global temperature trends over the past two decades is land surface temperatures in the NH extratropics. Therefore, proposed mechanisms explaining the fluctuations in global annual temperatures should address this apparent seasonal asymmetry.