Air temperature changes in Svalbard and the surrounding seas from 1865 to 1920

Abstract

In this article, air temperature variability in the Svalbard region (74–82°N, 6–30°E) from 1865 to 1920 is presented based on a large amount of early instrumental land and marine data. Measurements were taken during many exploratory and scientific expeditions to the study area. In addition, changes of air temperature from historical times to the present day (1981–2010) were investigated. Present-day air temperatures for land were taken from regular meteorological stations and from campaign measurements, while for marine environment data were taken from three reanalysis products: 20CR, ERA-20C and ERA-Interim.

Analysis reveals that Svalbard (land data) in the period 1865–1920 was markedly colder than today (1981–2010, by about 3°C) in all seasons except summer, when air temperature was similar in both periods. However, the majority of mean monthly air temperatures in historical times still lie within two standard deviations (SDs) from the modern mean. Marine data show good correspondence with land data. The May–September average air temperature for the period 1871–1910 was slightly lower in the seas surrounding Svalbard (by 0.4°C) than today. About 90% of these mean air temperatures lie within the range of ±3SDs from the ERA-Interim present-day mean.

Seasonal patterns of air temperature changes in the Svalbard archipelago between historical and standard normal (1961–1990) periods show generally very good correspondence to similar changes, not only for the Atlantic region, but also for some other Arctic regions (e.g. SE Greenland, Canadian Arctic, Barents and Kara seas), as well as for the entire Arctic. All available reconstructions of annual air temperature using isolated series of early instrumental observations reveal that in historical times, air temperatures were colder than the standard normal (1961–1990) by about 0.5–1.0°C. Compared with the new normal period (1981–2010), those differences rise to about 1.5–2.5°C.