See also:

Long-term temperatures from tree rings
 
Temperatures at Aklavik
 
Temperatures at Old Crow
 
Temperatures at Shingle Point
 
Caribou and Climate Slide Show

Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op

What is happening?

• This graph compares annual average summer temperatures at four sites in the Northern Yukon and one in Alaska: Old Crow, Inuvik, Shingle Point, Komakuk Beach and Barrow.
• There are significant trends in mean summer temperatures at three of the sites (trend line is shown). At these sites average summer temperatures have increased between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius in the last 30 years. The rate of increase is highest for Old Crow and lowest for Barrow.

Why is it happening?

• Increases in global mean temperatures have been predicted as a result of increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases generated by human activities. These changes have been predicted to be greatest in the polar regions.
• Temperature changes may also result from natural climate variations, such as the decrease in temperatures that brought about the "Little Ice Age" cooling period in the 19th century for much of the northern hemisphere.
• Annual variability in mean temperatures is often large, and the detection of trends in climate generally requires long-term data sets.

Why is it important?

• Changes in global and regional climate have important implications for many aspects of the environment. In the North, temperature warming may bring about changes in glaciers, permafrost, habitat for plants and animals, and other changes. For human communities, this may mean changes in agricultural productivity, sustainable hunting levels, heating fuel consumption, and patterns of land use. These effects may be both positive and negative, and are likely to vary from region to region.
• One of the greatest concerns associated with human-induced global climate change is the rate of global temperature changes -- temperatures in this region are expected to increase by at least as much and faster than after the last ice age (about 10,000 years ago).

Technical Notes

• Trends in temperature were tested using data obtained between a start date in the 1960s and 2004 or 2005 (2002 for Barrow).
• The trends in mean summer temperatures at three sites are significant at p<0.05.
• The data presented in these graphs are averages of mean monthly temperature data for June-August provided by Atmospheric Environment Service, Environment Canada and the U.S. Western Regional Climate Center. Shingle Point and Komakuk Beach stations were switched to automatic monitoring in 1993.
• Missing data points are due to a lack of sufficient data to calculate seasonal averages for those years.

Text revised: Feb. 28, 2007     Data added: Feb. 28, 2007

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