FY 2009
Retrospective analysis of sea surface temperature in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas
Ladd, C., and J.E. Overland
NOAA Tech. Memo. OAR PMEL-145, NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, 17 pp (2009) |
| Sea surface temperature (SST) data from the Chukchi and northern Bering seas
beginning in the 1920s are analyzed to investigate low-frequency variability. Although surface air
temperatures at Nome, AK, and adjacent weather stations show a shift in the late 1930s and a
strong warming signal after 1977, spatial variability and sparse oceanic sampling make it impossible
to draw robust conclusions regarding low-frequency temporal variability in SST. Given the data at
hand, however, there is no conclusive evidence for decadal-scale or regime-shift variability in SST in
the northern Bering/Chukchi Sea region during the 20th century, and the data can be considered to
be a single climatology. The warmest SSTs ever measured in eastern Bering Strait were obtained in
2004 during a RUSALCA cruise, and the warmest temperatures measured in western Bering Strait
were observed in 2006, providing evidence that we are seeing a distinct warm period in the current
decade relative to the 20th century. A cruise from 1880 shows SSTs consistent with the 20th-century
climatology. |
