Using Temperature and Precipitation at an Alpine Weather Station (Denali, AK) To Represent Regional Climate Patterns
Abstract
In anticipation of the development of a 1000-year ice core climate proxy from Denali National Park, Alaska Range, here we evaluate the relationships between weather recorded at a high-elevation (2375 m) automated weather station in Denali National Park (DNP) and National Weather Service station data from throughout Alaska. Our findings indicate that monthly average temperature anomalies from DNP are strongly correlated with temperature anomalies across mainland Alaska (r ≥ 0.5, p < 0.0007), with decreasing correlations in the southeast panhandle (0.25 ≤ r ≤ 0.5, p < 0.065) and especially for stations in the Bering Sea. We used an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to represent average Alaska monthly temperature anomaly since 1950. Initial results indicate that EOF 1, which is highly correlated with station data from central Alaska (r ≥ 0.6, p < 0.0001), has a significant positive correlation with the Pacific North America pattern (r = 0.46, p < 0.0001) and a weak negative correlation with the Southern Oscillation Index (r = -0.21, p < 0.0001). Additional analyses will further investigate the role of regional climate patterns in central Alaskan weather and climate. Analyses of precipitation relationships are still preliminary, but initial results indicate that, on a monthly scale, local precipitation changes can be interpreted on a regional basis. Analyses of temperature and precipitation seasonality have yet to be completed, but we will investigate the relationships between summertime DNP precipitation (the dominant precipitation season) and wintertime climate patterns. These results will be integrated with remote sensing data to quantify the response of the nearby Ruth and Kahiltna Glaciers to Alaskan climate variability.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.A33B0149S
- Keywords:
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- 0724 CRYOSPHERE / Ice cores;
- 1637 GLOBAL CHANGE / Regional climate change;
- 3355 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES / Regional modeling