NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Instrumental temperature record

See also temperature record. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 529 pixelsFull resolution (900 Ã— 595 pixel, file size: 82 KB, MIME type: image/png)Map of the temperature stations and record lengths appearing in the Global Historical Climatology Network. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 529 pixelsFull resolution (900 Ã— 595 pixel, file size: 82 KB, MIME type: image/png)Map of the temperature stations and record lengths appearing in the Global Historical Climatology Network. ... Map of temperature station locations with record lengths indicated by coloring. ... The temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans through various spans of time. ...

The instrumental temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans as measured by temperature sensors. A quasi-global record exists since about 1850. For other uses, see Temperature (disambiguation). ... For the game, see: 1850 (board game) 1850 (MDCCCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Global records databases

Currently, the Hadley Centre maintains the HADCRUT3, a global surface temperature dataset^[1], NASA maintains GISTEMP, which provides a measure of the changing global surface temperature with monthly resolution for the period since 1880^[2], and the NOAA maintains the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN-Monthly) data base contains historical temperature, precipitation, and pressure data for thousands of land stations worldwide^[3]. The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, which is part of the Met Office, provides a focus in the United Kingdom for the scientific issues associated with climate change. ... This article is about the American space agency. ... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency of the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. ... Map of temperature station locations with record lengths indicated by coloring. ...

The global record from 1850

The time period for which reasonably reliable near-surface temperature records exist from actual observations from thermometers with quasi-global coverage is generally considered to start in about 1850 - earlier records exist, but coverage and instrument standardization are less. The instrumental temperature record is viewed with considerable skepticism for the early years. It has been suggested that List of temperature sensors be merged into this article or section. ...

The temperature data for the record come from measurements from land stations and ships. On land, temperature sensors are kept in a Stevenson screen or a MMTS. The sea record consists of surface ships taking sea temperature measurements from engine inlets or buckets. The land and marine records can be compared^[4]. Land and sea measurement and instrument calibration is the responsibility of National Meteorological Services. Standardization of methods is organized through the World Meteorological Organization and its predecessor, the International Meteorological Organization.^[5] Exterior of a Stevenson screen Interior of a Stevenson screen A Stevenson screen or Instrument shelter is a meteorological screen to shield instruments against precipitation and direct heat radiation from outside sources, while still allowing air to circulate freely around them. ... The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 187 Member States and Territories. ... Although there had been significant developments in meteorology in the 18th century, Matthew Fontaine Maury, of the US Navy, was instrumental in convening the first true International Meteorological Organization held in Brussels, Belgium on August 23, 1853. ...

Currently, most meteorological observations are taken for use in weather forecasts. Centers such as ECMWF show instantaneous map of their coverage; or the Hadley Centre show the coverage for the average of the year 2000. Coverage for earlier in the 20th and 19th centuries would be significantly less. While temperature changes vary both in size and direction from one location to another, the numbers from different locations are combined to produce an estimate of a global average change. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international intergovernmental organization based at Reading, England that was founded in 1975. ...

There are concerns about possible uncertainties in the instrumental temperature record including the fraction of the globe covered, the effects of changing thermometer designs and observing practices, and the effects of changing land-use around the observing stations. The ocean temperature record too suffers from changing practices (such as the switch from collecting water in canvas buckets to measuring the temperature from engine intakes) but they are immune to the urban heat island effect or to changes in local land use/land cover (LULC) at the land surface station. An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surroundings. ...

Warming in the instrumental temperature record

Most of the observed warming occurred during two periods: 1910 to 1945 and 1976 to 2000; the cooling/plateau from 1945 to 1976 is attributed to sulphate aerosol^[6]. Attribution of the temperature change to natural or anthropogenic factors is an important question: see global warming and attribution of recent climate change. Description Expanded record of instrumental temperatures showing recent global warming This figure shows the last 25 years of globally averaged instrumental surface temperature measurements according to data collected by the Hadley Centre of the UK Meteorological Office and the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia. ... Description Expanded record of instrumental temperatures showing recent global warming This figure shows the last 25 years of globally averaged instrumental surface temperature measurements according to data collected by the Hadley Centre of the UK Meteorological Office and the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1850 to 2006 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades and the projected... Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for relatively recent changes observed in the Earths climate. ...

Land and sea measurements independently show much the same warming since 1860 ^[7]. The data from these stations show an average surface temperature increase of about 0.74 °C during the last 100 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated in its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) that the temperature rise over the 100 year period from 1906-2005 was 0.74 °C [0.56 to 0.92 °C] with a confidence interval of 90%. 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... The average surface temperature of the earth is defined as the combined temperature of near-surface air temperature over land and sea surface temperature. ... IPCC is science authority for the UNFCCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the risk of human-induced climate change. The Panel is open to all... Climate Change 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is the fourth in a series of such reports. ...

For the last 50 years, the linear warming trend has been 0.13 °C [0.10 to 0.16 °C] per decade according to AR4.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, both in its 2002 report to President George W. Bush, and in later publications, has strongly endorsed evidence of an average global temperature increase in the 20th century ^[8]. President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ...

In relation to the instrumental temperature record of the last 100 years, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report found that:

For more information about the effects or otherwise of urbanization on the temperature record, see the main article: Urban heat island effect An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surroundings. ...

Spatial variability

The global temperature changes are not uniform over the globe, nor would they be expected to be, whether the changes were naturally or humanly forced. Certain places, such as the north shore of Alaska, show dramatic rises in temperature, far above the average for the globe as a whole ^[9]. The Antarctic peninsula has warmed by 2.5 °C (4.5 °F) in the past five decades in certain places^[10]; meanwhile East Antarctic has not significantly warmed^[11]. Greek ἀνταρκτικός, opposite the arctic) is a continent surrounding the Earths South Pole. ...

Uncertainties in the temperature record

The uncertainty in annual measurements of the global average temperature (95% range) is estimated to be ~0.05°C since 1950 and as much as ~0.15°C in the earliest portions of the instrumental record. The error in recent years is dominated by the incomplete coverage of existing temperature records. Early records also have a substantial uncertainty driven by systematic concerns over the accuracy of sea surface temperature measurements.^[12]^[13] Station densities are highest in the northern hemisphere, providing more confidence in climate trends in this region. Station densities are far lower in other regions such as the tropics, northern Asia and the former Soviet Union. This results in less confidence in the robustness of climate trends in these areas. If a sparsely populated grid has a poor quality station, the impact on global temperature would be greater than if it occurred in a grid with many weather stations^[14].

Uncertainty can also be based on poorer quality weather stations. A number of scientists and scientific organizations have expressed concern about the possible deterioration of the land surface observing network.^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18] Roger A. Pielke has also claimed to have identified a number of sites where poorly sited stations in sparse regions "will introduce spatially unrepresentative data into the analyses." ^[19] The metadata needed to quantify the uncertainty from poorly sited stations does not currently exist. Anthony Watts is currently documenting station quality in the U.S. Pielke has called for a similar documentation effort for the rest of the world ^[20]. This is an effort Watts is planning to undertake. ^[21] Roger A. Pielke (Sr. ... Anthony Watts is Chief Meteorologist for KPAY-AM radio. ...

Criticism of the United States land surface temperature record

The U.S. National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program has established minimum standards regarding the instrumentation, siting, and reporting of surface temperature stations.^[22] The observing systems available are able to detect year-to-year temperature variations such as those caused by El Niño or volcanic eruptions.^[23] These stations can undergo undocumented changes such as relocation, changes in instrumentation and exposure (including changes in nearby thermally emitting structures), changes in land use (e.g., urbanization), and changes in observation practices. All of these changes can introduce biases into the stations' long term records. In the past, these local biases were generally considered to be random and therefore would cancel each other out using many stations and the ocean record.^[23] The National Weather Service (NWS) is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States government. ...

In 2007, broadcast meteorologist Anthony Watts^[24] delivered a presentation^[25] based on preliminary results of his all-volunteer effort to document the quality of each U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) weather station in the United States at a Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences workshop in Boulder, Colorado.^[26]. Using a 5-point rating scale based on government guidelines, Watts labeled 5% of the stations the best quality or "Class 1", 10% a "Class 2", 16% a "Class 3", 52% a "Class 4", and 17% the worst or "Class 5".^[27] Watts founded SurfaceStations.org, which was launched on June 4, 2007. The project has not yet published any papers in peer reviewed journals. The results as of September 12, 2007 of their 33% completed survey, with 404 stations surveyed, of the USHCN network are posted on their website.^[28] Anthony Watts is Chief Meteorologist for KPAY-AM radio. ... The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the University of Colorado at Boulder. ... The City of Boulder ( , Mountain Time Zone) is a home rule municipality located in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. ... is the 155th day of the year (156th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

A 2006 paper analyzed a subset of U.S. surface stations, 366 stations, and found that 95% displayed a warming trend after land use/land cover (LULC) changes. The authors stated "this does not necessarily imply that the LULC changes are the causative factor."^[29] Another study ^[30] has documented examples of well and poorly sited monitoring stations in the United States, including ones near buildings, roadways, and air conditioning exhausts. Brooks investigated Historical Climate Network (USHCN) sites in Indiana, and assigned 16% of the sites an ‘excellent’ rating, 59% a ‘good’ rating, 12.5% a ‘fair’ rating, and 12.5% ‘poor’ rating.^[31] Davey and Pielke visited 10 HCN sites in Eastern Colorado, but did not provide percentages of good or badly sited stations. They stated that some of the sites "are not at all representative of their surrounding region" and should be replaced in the instrumental temperature records with other sites from the U.S. cooperative observer network.^[32]

Peterson has argued that existing empirical techniques for validating the local and regional consistency of temperature data are adequate to identify and remove biases from station records, and that such corrections allow information about long-term trends to be preserved.^[33] Pielke and co-authors disagree.^[34]

External links

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References

Categories: Climate change | History of climate The new building on the edge of Exeter The Met Office (originally an abbreviation for Meteorological Office, but now the official name in itself), which has its headquarters at Exeter in Devon, is the United Kingdoms national weather service. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Goddard Institute for Space Studies building. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency of the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... IPCC is science authority for the UNFCCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the risk of human-induced climate change. The Panel is open to all... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 187 Member States and Territories. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... IPCC is science authority for the UNFCCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the risk of human-induced climate change. The Panel is open to all... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... IPCC is science authority for the UNFCCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess the risk of human-induced climate change. The Panel is open to all... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The United States National Academies consist of four organizations: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... BAS headquarters The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), formerly the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), is an institute of the Natural Environment Research Council, and has, for the last fifty years, undertaken the majority of Britains scientific research on and around the Antarctic continent. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder, UCB officially[2]; Colorado and CU colloquially) is the flagship university of the University of Colorado System in Boulder, Colorado. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... A press release (sometimes known as a news release or press statement) is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... Roger A. Pielke (Sr. ... Roger A. Pielke (Sr. ... For other uses, see October (disambiguation). ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1850 to 2006 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades and the projected... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 450,000 years For current global climate change, see Global warming. ... The temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans through various spans of time. ... Comparison of ground based (blue) and satellite based (red: UAH; green: RSS) records of temperature variations since 1979. ... The temperature record of the past 1000 years describes the reconstruction of temperature for the last 1000 years on the Northern Hemisphere. ... The website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contains detailed data of the annual land and ocean temperature since 1880. ... This article is devoted to temperature changes in Earths environment as determined from geologic evidence on multi-million to billion (109) year time scales. ... National and international science academies and professional societies have assessed the current scientific opinion on climate change, in particular recent global warming. ... Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. ... In IPCC reports, equilibrium climate sensitivity refers to the equilibrium change in global mean surface temperature following a doubling of the atmospheric (equivalent) CO2 concentration. ... Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earths surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in 1950s. ... Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. ... A schematic representation of the exchanges of energy between outer space, the Earths atmosphere, and the Earth surface. ... Top: Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels as measured in the atmosphere and ice cores. ... The Keeling Curve is a graph measuring the increase in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 1958. ... Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) is a term often used in climate change topics. ... An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surroundings. ... Cloud forcing (sometimes described as cloud radiative forcing) is the difference between the radiation budget components for average cloud conditions and cloud-free conditions. ... A glaciation (a created composite term meaning Glacial Period, referring to the Period or Era of, as well as the process of High Glacial Activity), often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... Global cooling in general can refer to a cooling of the Earth; more specifically, it is a theory positing an overall cooling of the Earths surface and atmosphere along with a posited commencement of glaciation. ... Chart of ocean surface temperature anomaly [Â°C] during the last strong El NiÃ±o in December 1997 El NiÃ±o and La NiÃ±a (also written in English as El Nino and La Nina) are major temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. ... Milankovitch cycles are the collective effect of changes in the Earths movements upon its climate, named after Serbian civil engineer and mathematician Milutin MilankoviÄ‡. The eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession of the Earths orbit vary in several patterns, resulting in 100,000 year ice age cycles of the... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... The generalised concept of radiative forcing in climate science is any change in the radiation (heat) entering the climate system or changes in radiatively active gases. ... 400 year history of sunspot numbers. ... For other uses, see Volcano (disambiguation). ... Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. ... General Circulation Models (GCMs) are a class of computer-driven models for weather forecasting and predicting climate change, where they are commonly called Global Climate Models. ... Global monthly average total ozone amount Ozone depletion describes two distinct, but related observations: a slow, steady decline of about 4 percent per decade in the total amount of ozone in Earths stratosphere since around 1980; and a much larger, but seasonal, decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earths... Change in sea surface pH caused by anthropogenic CO2 between the 1700s and the 1990s Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earths oceans, caused by their uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ... The politics of global warming looks at the current political issues relating to global warming, as well as the historical rise of global warming as a political issue. ... The global warming controversy is a dispute regarding the nature and consequences of global warming. ... IPCC is the science authority for the UNFCCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to evaluate the risk of climate change brought on by humans, based mainly on... Climate scientists agree that the global average surface temperature has risen over the last few decades. ... The net impact of global warming so far has been modest, but near-future effects are likely to become significantly negative, with large-scale extreme impacts possible by the end of the century. ... Sea level measurements from 23 long tide gauge records in geologically stable environments show a rise of around 20 centimeters per century (2 mm/year). ... A view down the Whitechuck Glacier in North Cascades National Park in 1973 The same view as seen in 2006, where this branch of glacier retreated 1. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The National Assessment on Climate Change (NACC) was a massive multidisciplinary effort to study and portray in regional detail the potential effects of human-induced global warming on the United States. ... As recent estimates of the rate of global warming have increased, so have the financial estimates of the damage costs. ... Shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation is a possible effect of global warming. ... Global carbon dioxide emissions 1800â€“2000 Global average surface temperature 1850 to 2006 Mitigation of global warming involves taking actions aimed at reducing the extent of global warming. ... The issue of human-caused, or anthropogenic, climate change (global warming) is becoming a central focus of the Green movement. ... Kyoto Protocol Opened for signature December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan Entered into force February 16, 2005. ... CDM directs here. ... Emissions trading (or cap and trade) is an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. ... Emissions trading schemes (also known as â€˜cap and tradeâ€™ schemes) are one of the policy instruments available for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. ... A carbon tax is a tax on energy sources which emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. ... Until recently, most carbon offsets were commonly done by planting trees. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Carbon capture and storage. ... For the physical concepts, see conservation of energy and energy efficiency. ... Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is using less energy to provide the same level of energy service. ... Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat. ... Renewable energy technologies are essential contributors to the energy supply portfolio as they generally contribute to world energy security, reducing dependency on fossil fuel resources, and providing opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases. ... // Renewable energy development covers the advancement, capacity growth, and use of renewable energy sources by humans. ... The soft energy path is an energy use and development strategy delineated and promoted by some energy experts and activists, such as Amory Lovins and Tom Bender; in Canada, David Suzuki has been a very prominent (if less specialized) proponent. ... Adaptation to global warming covers all actions aimed at reducing the negative effects of global warming. ... The United Kingdoms Climate Change Programme was launched in November 2000 by the British government in response to its commitment agreed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). ... The European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) was launched in June 2000 by the European Unions European Commission. ...

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