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Antarctic Seasonal Pressure Reconstructions 1905-2013

This dataset consists of seasonally resolved timeseries of surface pressure at 18 Antarctic research stations, spanning 1905-2013.  Routine meteorological observations began at most of these stations only around 1960, leaving a very short instrumental record on which to assess Antarctic climate variability and change.  Surface pressure is one of the most important variables for assessing changes in climate; for example, a drop in surface pressure since ~1980 around Antarctica likely reflects the influence of the ozone hole.  The pre-1960 data were reconstructed based on statistical relationships between the original Antarctic station records and much-longer, mid-latitude station records.  A variety of tests were performed to assess the robustness of these relationships and to characterize uncertainty in the reconstructions.

Key Strengths:

  • Approximately doubles the length of the original Antarctic station records
  • Uses well-established statistical methods and validation tests

Key Limitations:

  • Reconstruction skill is not consistent across all stations and all seasons (DJF is best season and Antarctic Peninsula best region)
  • Linear method assumes stationarity in predictor-predictand relationships

Years of Record

1904/12 to 2013/11
temporal metadataID:

Formats

Timestep

Seasonal

Data Time Period Extended?

no, data set not being extended

Domain

Antarctic

Ocean or Land

Land Only

Missing Data Flag

missing data present

Vertical Levels

Surface Data Set

Input Data

station data from SCAR-READER, GHCN, CRU, ISPD

Earth system components and main variables

Atmosphere, Sea Level Pressure

Suggested Data Citation

Fogt, R. L., C. A. Goergens, M. E. Jones, G. A. Witte, M. Y. Lee, and J. M. Jones, 2016: Antarctic station-based pressure reconstructions since 1905: 1. Reconstruction evaluation. J. Geophysical Res.-Atmospheres, 21, 2814-2835, doi:10.1002/2015JD024564

Data Access: Please Cite data sources, following the data providers' instructions.

  1. Antarctic pressure reconstruction homepage (Ohio U)
  2. Best reconstructions for each station as an Excel file (Ohio U)
  3. Original Antarctic station data archived at the SCAR-READER project

Key Figures

Click the thumbnails to view larger sizes

Thumbnails

Captions
(contributed by R Fogt) Map indicating the stations with reconstucted pressure records (contributed by R Fogt)
Timeseries of December-January-February (DJF) surface pressure, averged across 5 of the reconsturcted station records for the "Full" period reconstruction (Figure: D. Schneider, NCAR)

Cite this page

National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified 10 Jun 2016. "The Climate Data Guide: Antarctic Seasonal Pressure Reconstructions 1905-2013." Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/antarctic-seasonal-pressure-reconstructions-1905-2013.

Acknowledgement of any material taken from this page is appreciated. On behalf of experts who have contributed data, advice, and/or figures, please cite their work as well.

Antarctic Seasonal Pressure Reconstructions 1905-2013

This dataset consists of seasonally resolved timeseries of surface pressure at 18 Antarctic research stations, spanning 1905-2013.  Routine meteorological observations began at most of these stations only around 1960, leaving a very short instrumental record on which to assess Antarctic climate variability and change.  Surface pressure is one of the most important variables for assessing changes in climate; for example, a drop in surface pressure since ~1980 around Antarctica likely reflects the influence of the ozone hole.  The pre-1960 data were reconstructed based on statistical relationships between the original Antarctic station records and much-longer, mid-latitude station records.  A variety of tests were performed to assess the robustness of these relationships and to characterize uncertainty in the reconstructions.

1904-12/2013-11