Abstract

An analysis of the minimum air temperature behavior was carried out for the southern tip of South America and the western side of the Antarctica Peninsula. Punta Arenas shows an overall annual warming of 0.15°C per decade during the 1960-2010 period, although this occurred mainly in the summer and winter seasons. The trend of the air temperature in the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula shows an increase until around 2000, but the warming rate during the last 2001-2010 decade has been less than previous decades; in particular, meteorological stations in King George Island show slight cooling. The lineal annual warming per decade as shown by Bellingshausen, Verndsky/Faraday and Rothera stations are 0.26°C ± 0.75°C, 0.55°C ± 1.26°C and 0.69°C ± 1.31°C; for the respectively, 1969-2010, 1951-2010 and 1978-2010 periods. These rates of warming are slightly lower than those found for the same stations but for the 1969- 2000, 1951-2000 and 1978-2000 periods.