Decadal-Length Composite West Antarctic Air Temperature Records

Abstract: This data set includes daily, monthly, and yearly mean surface air temperatures for four interior West Antarctic sites between 1978 and 1997. Data include air surface temperatures measured at the Byrd, Lettau, Lynn, and Siple Station automatic weather stations. In addition, because weather stations in Antarctica are difficult to maintain, and resulting multi-decade records are often incomplete, the investigators also calculated surface temperatures from satellite passive microwave brightness temperatures. Calibration of 37-GHz vertically polarized brightness temperature data during periods of known air temperature, using emissivity modeling, allowed the investigators to replace data gaps with calibrated brightness temperatures.

MS Excel data files and GIF images derived from the data are available via ftp from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.