A bibliometric analysis of research on the variability of precipitation over the Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract Regional warming rates experienced in the Antarctic Peninsula since the mid-twentieth century, linked to global climate change, have been amongst the world's fastest. The majority of studies of change in this region have focused on temperature, and while precipitation is also predicted to change (both in form and quantity) in the models, fewer studies have set out to document and test this prediction. In this study, we examined trends in research publications on precipitation variability over the Antarctic Peninsula from 1990 to 2023 using the Web of Science Core Collection database. A total of 86 relevant papers were retained and used to identify patterns in scientific outputs. VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software packages were used to illustrate the subject content of and trends in publications retrieved by key word analysis. Our findings revealed a positive trend in the number of papers published by year. Within the analysed period, research on precipitation variability in the Antarctic Peninsula region was initiated by a study of Turner and colleagues from 1997. The UK and US research communities were the two largest contributors to this field of Antarctic research globally, with their researchers also holding strong positions within international collaborative networks.