This Cool Geo-Pic comes again from NASA's Earth Observatory. The image is significant because of the data behind its display - the temperature changes are based on nearly a half century of temperature collections (1957-2006). Five decades of data has allot of relevance.
download large image (2 MB, JPEG) acquired 1957 - 2006
download large image (2 MB, JPEG) acquired 1957 - 2006
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" ... For a long time, it seemed that Antarctica was immune to global warming. Most of the icy southern continent, where temperatures can plummet to minus 80 degrees Celsius (-112 degrees Fahrenheit), seemed to be holding steady or even cooling as the rest of the planet warmed. But a new analysis of satellite and weather station data has shown that Antarctica has warmed at a rate of about 0.12 degrees Celsius (0.22 degrees F) per decade since 1957, for a total average temperature rise of 0.5 degrees Celsius (1 degree F)...."
References / Credits:
Hansen, K. (2009, January 22). Satellites confirm half-century of West Antarctic warming. NASA. Accessed January 22, 2009.
Steig, E., Schneider, D., Rutherford, S., Mann, M., Comiso, J., and Shindell, D. (2009, January 22). Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year. Nature, 457, 459-463. doi:10.1038/nature07669.
Steig, E. (2009, January 21). State of Antarctica: red or blue? RealClimate. Accessed January 22, 2009.
Image courtesy Trent Schindler, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
Instrument:
NOAA-15 POES - AVHRR
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