Hotspots and key periods of Greenland climate change during the past six decades

We investigated air temperature and pressure gradients and their trends for the period 1996-2014 in Greenland and compared these to other periods since 1958. Both latitudinal temperature and pressure gradients were strongest during winter. An overall temperature increase up to 0.15 °C year-1 was observed for 1996-2014. The strongest warming happened during February at the West coast (up to 0.6 °C year-1), weaker but consistent and significant warming occurred during summer months (up to 0.3 °C year-1) both in West and East Greenland. Pressure trends on a monthly basis were mainly negative, but largely statistically non-significant. Compared with other time windows in the past six decades, the period 1996-2014 yielded an above-average warming trend. Northeast Greenland and the area around Zackenberg follow the general pattern but are on the lower boundary of observed significant trends in Greenland. We conclude that temperature-driven ecosystem changes as observed in Zackenberg may well be exceeded in other areas of Greenland.