EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org) Searchable Database Results
Provided by the World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org)
"Climate and Atmosphere -- Climate: Global temperature anomaly"

"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","",0.63,0.49,0.55,0.56,0.48,0.33,0.33,0.57,0.40,0.30,0.38,0.24,0.14,0.13,0.35,0.38,0.19,0.31,0.27,0.13,0.06,0.09,0.26,0.05,0.27,0.18,0.09,0.01,0.13,-0.16,-0.05,-0.08,0.14,0.00,-0.10,0.03,0.08,-0.04,0.00,-0.03,-0.11,-0.21,0.08,0.04,0.08,-0.01,0.06,0.08,0.08,-0.17,-0.10,-0.10,0.11,0.03,-0.04,-0.15,-0.06,-0.04,0.01,-0.04,0.07,0.20,0.10,0.03,0.11,0.05,0.03,0.11,0.08,-0.04,-0.11,-0.05,-0.17,-0.06,-0.01,-0.07,-0.25,-0.11,-0.13,-0.01,-0.16,-0.21,-0.20,-0.24,-0.13,-0.19,-0.20,-0.32,-0.40,-0.30,-0.09,-0.15,-0.32,-0.34,-0.34,-0.33,-0.35,-0.34,-0.39,-0.20,-0.25,-0.34,-0.31,-0.27,-0.16,-0.10,-0.17,-0.25,-0.12,-0.17,-0.27,-0.33,-0.32,-0.32,-0.28,-0.37,-0.15,-0.26,-0.35,-0.25,-0.30,-0.30,-0.24,-0.23,-0.20,-0.25,

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."


Technical Notes
"Adapted from ""NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis."" Available online at http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/."
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"Definition:"
"The global temperature anomaly is a measure of how much warmer or colder than normal it is at a particular place and point in time. In this case, the 'normal temperature' is defined as the mean over a 30-year time period (1951-1980) and anomaly values are reported as annual (January-December) global means. Data are reported in degrees Centigrade. Negative numbers indicate colder than average temperatures and positive numbers indicate warmer than average temperatures."
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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. GISS reports monthly, seasonal, and annual global anomaly data, however, only annual values are reported here."
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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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"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. "