evidence: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis report published in 2014 found a warming trend over Antarctica, but expressed low confidence that the warming was caused by human activities. In the late twentieth century, the ozone hole and its effects on air circulation may have partly shielded the continent from the global warming influence of greenhouse gas emissions. Continued success in addressing the ozone hole, along with fossil fuel emissions, may cause Antarctic temperatures to rise more rapidly in future decades. The Antarctic Peninsula—lower in elevation and closer to the equator—experienced rapid temperature increases for several decades in the twentieth century. Then, in the late 1990s, temperature increases slowed, and since 2000, the Peninsula has actually cooled. Studies published in Nature and Nature Climate Change in 2016 concluded that the recent cooling can be explained by natural variability and trends in Pacific Ocean temperatures. Despite the recent cooling, the northern parts of the Antarctic Peninsula remain much warmer than they were in the middle of the last century. [...] Turner, J., Lu, H., White, I., King, J.C., Phillips, T., Hosking, J.S., Bracegirdle, T.J., Marshall, G.J., Mulvaney, R., Deb, P. (2016). Absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic Peninsula consistent with natural variability. Nature, 535, 411–415. doi:10.1038/nature18645.