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Climatic Research Unit : Information sheets
1: Global Temperature Record
Phil Jones
Global Air Temperature graph (this graph of HadCRUT3 is also available as
Encapsulated PostScript and PDF suitable for publication, and the data are
available as Comma-Separated Values)
The time series shows the combined global land and marine surface
temperature record from 1850 to 2008. The year 2008 was tenth warmest on
record, exceeded by 1998, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2001, 2007 and
1997. This time series is being compiled jointly by the Climatic Research
Unit and the UK Met. Office Hadley Centre. The record is being continually
up-dated and improved (see Brohan et al., 2006). This paper includes a new
and more thorough assessment of errors, recognizing that these differ on
annual and decadal timescales. Increased concentrations of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere due to human activities are most likely the
underlying cause of warming in the 20th century.
The key reference for this time series is:
# Brohan, P., J.J. Kennedy, I. Harris, S.F.B. Tett and P.D. Jones, 2006:
Uncertainty estimates in regional and global observed temperature changes:
a new dataset from 1850. J. Geophysical Research 111, D12106,
doi:10.1029/2005JD006548
The 1990s were the warmest complete decade in the series. The warmest year
of the entire series has been 1998, with a temperature of 0.546C above the
1961-90 mean. Thirteen of the fourteen warmest years in the series have
now occurred in the past fourteen years (1995-2008). The only year in the
last fourteen not among the warmest fourteen is 1996 (replaced in the warm
list by 1990). The period 2001-2008 (0.43C above 1961-90 mean) is 0.19C
warmer than the 1991-2000 decade (0.24C above 1961-90 mean).
Analyses of over 400 proxy climate series (from trees, corals, ice cores
and historical records) show that the 1990s is the warmest decade of the
millennium and the 20th century the warmest century. The warmest year of
the millennium was likely 1998, and the coldest was probably (but with
much greater uncertainty) 1601.
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change in its most recent report
in 2007 stated:
'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from
observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures,
widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.'
'Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since
the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in
anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations12. This is an advance since
the TAR's conclusion that "most of the observed warming over the last 50
years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas
concentrations". Discernible human influences now extend to other aspects
of climate, including ocean warming, continental-average temperatures,
temperature extremes and wind patterns.'
Source: http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/
