EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org) Searchable Database Results
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"Climate and Atmosphere -- Climate: Global mean surface temperature"

"Units: Degrees Centigrade"

,,2005,2004,2003,2002,2001,2000,1999,1998,1997,1996,1995,1994,1993,1992,1991,1990,1989,1988,1987,1986,1985,1984,1983,1982,1981,1980,1979,1978,1977,1976,1975,1974,1973,1972,1971,1970,1969,1968,1967,1966,1965,1964,1963,1962,1961,1960,1959,1958,1957,1956,1955,1954,1953,1952,1951,1950,1949,1948,1947,1946,1945,1944,1943,1942,1941,1940,1939,1938,1937,1936,1935,1934,1933,1932,1931,1930,1929,1928,1927,1926,1925,1924,1923,1922,1921,1920,1919,1918,1917,1916,1915,1914,1913,1912,1911,1910,1909,1908,1907,1906,1905,1904,1903,1902,1901,1900,1899,1898,1897,1896,1895,1894,1893,1892,1891,1890,1889,1888,1887,1886,1885,1884,1883,1882,1881,1880,
World
"World","",14.63,14.49,14.55,14.56,14.48,14.33,14.33,14.57,14.40,14.30,14.38,14.24,14.14,14.13,14.35,14.38,14.19,14.31,14.27,14.13,14.06,14.09,14.26,14.05,14.27,14.18,14.09,14.01,14.13,13.84,13.95,13.92,14.14,14.00,13.90,14.03,14.08,13.96,14.00,13.97,13.89,13.79,14.08,14.04,14.08,13.99,14.06,14.08,14.08,13.83,13.90,13.90,14.11,14.03,13.96,13.85,13.94,13.96,14.01,13.96,14.07,14.20,14.10,14.03,14.11,14.05,14.03,14.11,14.08,13.96,13.89,13.95,13.83,13.94,13.99,13.93,13.75,13.89,13.87,13.99,13.84,13.79,13.80,13.76,13.87,13.81,13.80,13.68,13.60,13.70,13.91,13.85,13.68,13.66,13.66,13.67,13.65,13.66,13.61,13.80,13.75,13.66,13.69,13.73,13.84,13.90,13.83,13.75,13.88,13.83,13.73,13.67,13.68,13.68,13.72,13.63,13.85,13.74,13.65,13.75,13.70,13.70,13.76,13.77,13.80,13.75,

Footnotes
No footnotes

Source
"Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). 2006. NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP). New York: GISS. Available on-line at: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/."
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"For a full list of references see http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/references.html."
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Technical Notes
"Adapted from ""NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis."" Available online at http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/."
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"Definition:"
"Global mean surface temperature measures the average global surface temperature in degrees Centigrade for a given year. These temperature data were calculated from annual global temperature anomoly figures by adding reported anomaly values to the base period 1951-1980 'best estimate for absolute global mean temperature' of 14 degrees C."
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"Values can be converted to degrees Fahrenheit by using the following formula:"
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"[(Degrees Centigrade) - 14] x 1.80 + 57.2 = (Degrees Fahrenheit)."
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"Years Covered and Frequency of Update:"
"NASA GISS Surface Temperature (GISTEMP) data are available from 1880 to the present, when a reasonably global distribuition of meteorological stations was established."
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"GISS updates this data set monthly."
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"Methodology:"
"The NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) provides a measure of the changing global surface temperature with monthly resolution for the period since 1880, when a reasonably global distribution of meteorological stations was established. Input data for the analysis, collected by many national meteorological services around the world, is the unadjusted data of the Global Historical Climatology Network (Peterson and Vose, 1997) except that the USHCN station records included were replaced by a later corrected version. These data were augmented by SCAR data from Antarctic stations. Documentation of analysis is provided by Hansen et al. (1999), with several modifications described by Hansen et al. (2001). "
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"GHCN/USHCN/SCAR data (reported here) are modified in two stages to get to the station data on which all GISS tables, graphs, and maps are based: in stage 1 the time records of the various sources are combined at each location; in stage 2 the non-rural stations are adjusted in such a way that their longterm trend of annual means is as close as possible to that of the mean of the neighboring rural stations. Non-rural stations that cannot be adjusted are dropped."
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"Analysis results in a global land-ocean temperature index as described by Hansen et al. (1996). The temperature index is formed by combining the meteorological station measurements over land with sea surface temperatures obtained primarily from satellite measurements, the HadISST data. The temperature index data, i.e., the results including sea surface temperatures, are also the result of work by Reynolds, Rayner, Smith, et al. (2002)."
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"To arrive at a value for the annual absolute global mean temperature, annual (January-December) anomaly values, as reported by GISS, are added to the best estimate for absolute global mean for the base period 1951-1980: 14C = 57.2F."
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"For more information, see http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/."
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"Data Reliability:"
"Analysis is limited to the period since 1880 because of the poor spatial coverage of stations prior to that time and the reduced possibility of checking records against those of nearby neighbors. Meteorological station data provide a useful indication of temperature change in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics for a few decades prior to 1880, and there are a small number of station records that extend back to previous centuries. However, it is suggested that analyses for these earlier years need to be carried out on a station by station basis with an attempt to discern the method and reliability of measurements at each station. Global studies of still earlier times depend upon incorporation of proxy measures of temperature change. References to such studies are provided in Hansen et al. (1999)."
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"Other uncertainties within this data set can be found in the original research publications. See http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/references.html. "