New Website Available
Arctic Climate in Historical Perspective: First International
Polar Year 1881-1884
The website is available at:
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/aro/ipy-1/
For the first time, historical arctic data and images from the explorers
and scientists of the First International Polar Year are provided on a
beautiful and comprehensive website at:
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/aro/ipy-1/
The First International Polar Year was the first series of coordinated
international expeditions to the polar regions ever undertaken, and was
the antecedent for other international research programs such as the
upcoming 4th International Polar Year, planned to begin in 2007. The
extraordinary historical data sets and images are available on the
website for browsing or download.
The records of the First International Polar Year offer a rare glimpse
of the circumpolar arctic environment as it existed in the past. These
observations collected so long ago now hold the potential to improve our
understanding of historical climate variability and environmental change
in the Arctic.
Initial comparison of First International Polar Year data with 20th
century observations of climate and environmental change in the Arctic
shows that surface air temperature and sea-level pressure observed
during 1882-1883 were within limits of a recent 30-year climatology and
were consistent with a positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation and
North Atlantic Oscillation pattern of variability.
Credits: The documentary data and image collection was supported by
NOAA's Arctic Research Office and developed by Kevin R. Wood and James
E. Overland at NOAA/PMEL.