Recent regional climate cooling on the Antarctic Peninsula and associated impacts on the cryosphere

• Examines climate variability since the 1950s in the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) region
• States that this region is often cited among those with the fastest warming rates on Earth
• Re-assesses climate data and finds the data shows a cooling trend initiated around 1998/1999
• States this recent cooling has already impacted the cryosphere in the northern AP
• Observes changes on glacial mass balances, snow cover and permafrost state

Fig. 1. Location of the AP within the Antarctic continent. b. Detail of the South Shetland Islands and its stations. c. Distribution of the stations on the Peninsula and neighbouring islands, with inter-decadal MAAT variations since 1956 across the AP region.

Fig. 2. Temporal evolution of the MAATs for selected stations, including significant trends at p b 0.05*, p b 0.01**, p b 0.001*** and n.s. (not significant at p N 0.05).