A 400-year ice core melt layer record of summertime warming in the Alaska Range

We calibrate the melt record to summer temperatures based on weather station data from the ice core drill site and find that the increase in melt production represents a summer warming rate of at least 1.920.31 degrees C per century during the last 100years, exceeding rates of temperature increase at most low-elevation sites in Alaska. The Mt. Hunter melt layer record is significantly (p<0.05) correlated with surface temperatures in the central tropical Pacific through a Rossby wave-like pattern that enhances high temperatures over Alaska.

Our results show that rapid alpine warming has taken place in the Alaska Range for at least a century and that conditions in the tropical oceans contribute to this warming.