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Greenland data, climate data by sector, impacts, key
vulnerabilities and what adaptation
measures are being taken. Explore the
overview for a general context of how
climate change is a"ecting Greenland.

CLIMATE CHANGE OVERVIEW COUNTRY SUMMARY CURRENT CLIMATE CLIMATE PROJECTIONS EXTREME EVENTS RISK

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Current Climate > Climatology D ATA

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This page presents Greenland's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, (1991-
2020)
derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong
understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios
and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial Average
variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual Mean
Surface Air
and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-
Temperature
national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national is -18.68 °C
unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown
list. Data for specific coordinates can be downloaded for in the Data Download page. Precipitation
is 468.13
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of mm
East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.

GREENLAND
-
VARIABLE TIME PERIOD C O U N T RY
Average Mean Surface Air Temperature 1991-2020 SPECIFIC
I N F O R M AT I O N
Observed Climatology of Average Mean Monthly Climatology of Average
Surface Air Temperature 1991-2020; Minimum Surface Air Temperature,
Greenland (Den.) Average Mean Surface Air
Temperature, Average Maximum
Surface Air Temperature &
+ Precipitation 1991-2020; Greenland
–
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RESOURCES

0 °C 40 mm

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-8 °C 32 mm Climate
Change
Temperature

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Action Plan
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2021-2025
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Tool:
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TEMPERATURE (°C)
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Average Minimum Surface Air Temperature
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 Average Mean Surface Air Temperature Historical
Average Maximum Surface Air Temperature Data:
Precipitation
Climatic
Research
ANNUAL DEC- MAR- JUN- SEP-
JAN- APR- JUL- OCT- Unit (CRU)
FEB MAY AUG NOV

Observed Annual Average Mean Surface Air Temperature of Greenland for 1901-
2022

-17°C

-18°C
Temperature (°C)

-19°C

-20°C

-21°C

-22°C
1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 2021
2…

Annual Mean 5-yr smooth

Greenland has an Arctic climate. About 80% of the land is covered by an ice sheet that is up to 3 km thick, while
the ice-free land areas are limited to a coastal strip that is 50-300 km wide. Furthest south, and closest to the
edge of the ice, the climate is sub-Arctic with a mean temperature of more than 10°C in July. The climate in
southwest Greenland, where most of the population of 55,000 live, is low-Arctic. This part of Greenland is
characterized by relatively mild winters with a lot of snow and periods of thaw, and wet summers with average
temperatures of less than 10°C in the warmest month.

North and north-east Greenland are in the high-Arctic zone. The climate has continental characteristics with
very cold winters down to minus 50 degrees (Celsius) in north Greenland. The temperature is rarely above zero
degrees from September to May. Winter precipitation is limited as parts of north Greenland has a desert
climate with less than 25 mm precipitation per year, corresponding to about 1% of the precipitation at the
southern tip of Greenland.

The continental climate in high-Arctic Greenland is determined by sea ice from the Arctic Ocean, which hitherto
has made up the pack-ice belt, often up to several hundred kilometers wide, which floats southwards along the
east coast of Greenland. In recent years, the extent of the Polar Ice has been reduced for long periods, and this
has led to unusual events such as wave erosion along the coasts which previously had not seen open sea to the
same extent. The climate in high-Arctic Greenland is greatly influenced by the amount and spread of sea ice.

Temperature

During 1991–2019 there was significant overall warming of ~4.4°C in winter, ~2.7°C in spring, and ~1.7°C in
summer, that was generally focused in areas away from the extreme south.
The strongest warming was in west and northwest Greenland, up to ~6–6.5°C in winter. For the overall 1981–
2019 period these values reach ~6–7.5°C. However, mean temperature trends are not significant for all
seasons since 2001.
Summer and July temperature trends for 1991–2018 at Swiss Camp are respectively 1.7°C and 1.2°C which
are significant warmings and broadly comparable with 1.5/1.6°C for CGT2(3) for both July and summer (1991–
2018).
A similar significant warming of 1.9°C is observed at Summit for summer 1992–2019. The observed summer
warming of 1.1°C
Greenland warming in summer since the early 1990s is generally significant and extends from the coastline
across the ice sheet.

Precipitation

The lower-density summer snow which aids in the stratigraphic identification of the annual layers in the
snow profile is presumed to have been deposited before that date.
The record of annual precipitation at the ice cap site indicates an apparent gradual decrease in precipitation
between 1920 and 1954.
The annual precipitation in central Greenland between 1911 and 1931 has also been computed by Sorge 6
from snow profile studies at the Eismitte station.
This record indicates that annual precipitation at this mid-ice sheet station decreased between 1920 and
1931.

Average Mean Surface Air Temperature

Average mean temperature over the aggregation period

1991-2020 1961-1990 1931-1960 1901-1930

Units:°C DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON

Greenland -28.85 -21.7 -4.98 -19.37 -29.98 -22.6 -5.67 -20.54 -29.58 -21.94 -5.27 -19.92 -30.84 -22.55 -5.67 -20.51

Average Minimum Surface Air Temperature

Average minimum temperature over the aggregation period

1991-2020 1961-1990 1931-1960 1901-1930

Units:°C DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON

Greenland -32.86 -26.03 -8.67 -22.83 -34.1 -27.02 -9.37 -24.06 -33.7 -26.38 -8.96 -23.44 -34.96 -26.97 -9.36 -24.03

Average Maximum Surface Air Temperature

Average maximum temperature over the aggregation period

1991-2020 1961-1990 1931-1960 1901-1930

Units:°C DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON

Greenland -24.88 -17.4 -1.32 -15.97 -25.92 -18.22 -2 -17.06 -25.51 -17.55 -1.61 -16.45 -26.78 -18.17 -2 -17.03

Precipitation
Aggregated accumulated precipitation.

1991-2020 1961-1990 1931-1960 1901-1930

Units:mm DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON DJF MAM JJA SON

Greenland 132.22 104.19 102.06 129.8 121.01 98.17 101.6 117.31 111.43 94.73 96.37 123.68 108.59 94.1 99.46 119.64

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