12. Summary

• • Air temperatures within the WAP show a statistically significant warming trend which has persisted throughout the 1990's. However, during the 1990's the variance of wintertime temperatures has decreased and the persistence is less as compared with the 1980's.
  • Increased air temperatures within the WAP are statistically linked to a decrease in sea ice extent and, as with temperature, the persistence of the 1980's has given way to less variance in the 1990's.
  • These observations suggest that the balance between contrasting maritime and continental climatic regimes within the WAP region have moved toward increased maritime influence during the 1990's. These changes are related to an increase in cyclonic activity and increased boundary-layer winds flowing from the northwest with associated warm and moist air advection into the region.
  • The consequences of these changes on sea ice growth processes and the evolution of the sea-ice cover may be profound for the marine ecology of the region.
  • The ecological impact of sea ice is a complex space-time matrix of biology and physical forcing. Indexes have been developed which provide a general methodology for quantitatively linking variability in sea ice coverage to variability in marine ecosystems.

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