Churchill is a town in subarctic Canada surrounded by the most studied polar bear population in the world. Polar bears are believed to be under threat from global warming.
On Thursday, Jennifer Marohasy, posted a note stating:
“It is warming in Churchill. At least thermometer temperature data from both Environment Canada and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) indicate that it has been warmer since 1998 – but the annual mean is still below zero!”
Dr Marohasy was basing this assessment on annual mean temperature values for Churchill compiled by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) back to 1884 and Environment Canada back to 1929.
Dr Marohasy also commented:
“I’m also curious to know why the GISS data for this site shows an annual average that is consistently warmer than the Environment Canada data. And why the data gaps? There is no GISS data for Churchill from 1994 to 1996 and also from 1911 to 1931? And why the step change in temperature since 1998 – I didn’t know the Arctic was influenced by El Nino events?”
I cannot help with Dr Marohasy’s last two questions, however, by excluding all the estimated values from nearby weather stations in the Environment Canada data, and by excluding years with missing months from the GISS data, the annual averages are not generally warmer for the GISS data.
[Read more…] about Subarctic Temperatures (Part 3): A Note from Nichole Hoskin
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
