Hansen's NASA GISS data confirm the Arctic was warmer from 1920-1940 and cooled 1940-2000

A 2005 paper published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science shows NASA GISS data demonstrating that 20th century Arctic temperatures peaked between 1920 to 1940, followed by a decline over the remainder of the 20th century. According to the authors, 

"From approximately 1920 to 1940, North Atlantic Waters from Greenland to Norway warmed significantly, by as much as 3–4°C (Tåning, 1948). Although the causes of this event are not well understood, there is no doubt of its authenticity or widespread occurrence in temperature records (Figure 7)." and

"a major warming event in Icelandic and Greenland waters between 1920 and 1940 was extensively documented (e.g. Sæmundsson, 1932; Ahlmann, 1948; Lysgaard, 1948)."

Figure 7

Surface air temperatures for (a) St. John's, Newfoundland; (b) Nuuk, Greenland; (c) Akureyi, Iceland; and (d) Bodo, Norway. Solid line is a decadal moving average. Data from NASA database at Goddard Space Center [James Hansen's former employer GISS], New York.

The paper corroborates a new paper finding ice core proxy temperatures and 4 meteorological datasets show that 20th century Arctic temperatures peaked between 1920-1940 and cooled to the end of the record in 2000. 

This is the opposite pattern to what would be expected if man-made greenhouse gases were the cause, as even alarmists claim the increase in greenhouse gases has only had a significant effect since 1950. Instead, both of these papers demonstrate 20th century Arctic temperatures peaked between 1920-1940, followed by a declining trend to the end of the record in 2000.

Both papers demonstrate Hansen's red crayon for the Arctic amounts to nothing more than cherry picking baseline dates for comparison, omitting the hottest years from 1920-1940 as the baseline, along with upjusting station data and inappropriate extrapolations from warmer stations further south.

Hansen's red crayon can be used much more in the Arctic if the cherry-picked baseline is the global cooling scare years between 1951-1980, as Hansen did in the above figure. If the Arctic's warmest years of the 20th century between 1920-1940 were used as the baseline instead, the Arctic would show little temperature change or possibly even cooling.

On distributional responses of North Atlantic fish to climate change

G.A. Rose

Changes in fish distribution and climate in the North Atlantic have been observed for millennia by seafaring peoples, chronicled in many historical anecdotes, and recently studied systematically. For temperate to Arctic North Atlantic fish, a literature compendium of limits of temperature, salinity, and depth during feeding and spawning was used to investigate factors that influence distribution. Latitude and depth were negatively correlated with species number and density. Peak numbers of species feed at 0–4°C, but spawn at 2–7°C and salinities of 32.5–33.5. Principal components of feeding depths and temperatures suggested four groups of species: (i) small pelagics characterized by shallow habitat and cooler temperatures; (ii) most groundfish in deeper and warmer waters; (iii) warm-water large pelagics; and (iv) deepwater species. Spawning temperatures, salinities, depths, and timing produced groupings consistent with feeding components for pelagics, but differing for distant migrants such as tunas. Principal components (PCA) of spawning characteristics explained 56% of the variance in species resilience (doubling time), while PCA of feeding characteristics explained only 23%. We infer that the small pelagics capelin (Mallotus villosus) and herring (Clupea harengus) react strongly and quickly to climate change because of their physiological limits and potential for fast population growth. Verification comes from Icelandic and Greenland waters, which warmed considerably during 1920–1940, and where capelin, herring, cod (Gadus morhua), and other species shifted north very quickly.

H/T Leif Svalgaard for the reference