Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Climate change (Communication arising)

Recent temperature trends in the Antarctic

Abstract

It is important to understand how temperatures across the Antarctic have changed in recent decades because of the huge amount of fresh water locked into the ice sheet and the impact that temperature changes may have on the ice volume. Doran et al.1 claim that there has been a net cooling of the entire continent between 1966 and 2000, particularly during summer and autumn. We argue that this result has arisen because of an inappropriate extrapolation of station data across large, data-sparse areas of the Antarctic.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Doran, P. T. et al. Nature 415, 517–520 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jones, P. D., New, M., Parker, D. E., Martin, S. & Rigor, I. G. Rev. Geophys. 37, 173–199 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Vaughan, D. G., Marshall, G. J., Connolley, W. M., King, J. C. & Mulvaney, R. Science 293, 1777–1779 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Comiso, J. C. J. Clim. 13, 1674–1696 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Shuman, C. A. & Stearns, C. R. J. Clim. 14, 1977–1988 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Turner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Turner, J., King, J., Lachlan-Cope, T. et al. Recent temperature trends in the Antarctic. Nature 418, 291–292 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/418291b

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/418291b

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing