Global Temperature Report: November 2006
Dec. 7, 2006
Vol. 16, No. 7
Global Temperature Report: November 2006
Global trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.14 C per decade
November temperatures (preliminary):
Global composite temp.: +0.29 C (about 0.52 degrees Fahrenheit) above
20-year average for November.
Northern Hemisphere: +0.33 C (about 0.59 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year
average for November.
Southern Hemisphere: +0.24 C (about 0.43 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year
average for November.
October temperatures (revised):
Global Composite: +0.38 C above 20-year average
Northern Hemisphere: +0.41 C above 20-year average
Southern Hemisphere: +0.34 C above 20-year average
(All temperature variations are based on a 20-year average (1979-1998) for
the month reported.)
Notes on data released Dec. 7, 2006:
The atmosphere has warmed by more than seven tenths of a degree Fahrenheit
(0.71 degrees F) in the past 28 years, with the bulk of that warming in the
Northern Hemisphere, according to data released today by Dr. John Christy,
director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in
Huntsville (UAH).
The 28-year data ‹ from Dec. 1, 1978 through Nov. 30, 2006 ‹ also show
Earth's polar extremes are heading in opposite directions: The Arctic has
warmed by an average of more than two and a quarter degrees Fahrenheit
(+2.27 degrees F or +1.26 C) in less than 30 years, while the Antarctic
region has cooled by an average of more than half a degree (-0.55 F or -0.31
C).
The contiguous 48-states of the U.S. have warmed at an average rate of 0.29
C per decade, a change of 0.81 C or 1.46 degrees Fahrenheit in 28 years.
Climate, December 1978 through November 2006
Trend 28-Year Change
Region (C/Dec.) C F
Globe +0.14 +0.39 +0.71
NH +0.20 +0.56 +1.01
SH +0.06 +0.17 +0.30
NoPole +0.45 +1.26 +2.27
NTemp +0.27 +0.76 +1.36
Tropics +0.08 +0.22 +0.40
STemp +0.06 +0.17 +0.30
SoPole - 0.11 - 0.31 - 0.55
A large area of colder than normal temperatures covered a region from Alaska
through Greenland in November 2006, while an area of significantly warmer
than seasonal normal temperatures covered a large portion of Siberia.
Warming patterns expected to be seen due to an anticipated El Nino Pacific
Ocean heating event were not seen in the November data.
Due to calibration problems with data from microwave sensors aboard the
NOAA-16 satellite, that data has been taken out of the global climate
dataset after August 2005, when it began to diverge from data gathered by
sensors aboard NOAA-15. This removes an apparently spurious cooling from
recent data.
Color maps of local temperature anomalies may soon be available on-line at:
http://climate.uah.edu/
The processed temperature data is available on-line at:
vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/tltglhmam_5.2
As part of an ongoing joint project between The University of Alabama in
Huntsville (UAH) and NOAA, Christy and Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research
scientist in the ESSC, use data gathered by microwave sounding units on
NOAA satellites to get accurate temperature readings for almost all regions
of the Earth.
This includes remote desert, ocean and rain forest areas for which reliable
climate data are not otherwise available. The satellite-based instruments
measure the temperature of the atmosphere from the surface up to an altitude
of about eight kilometers above sea level.
Once the monthly temperature data is collected and processed, it is placed
in a ³public² computer file for immediate access by atmospheric scientists
in the U.S. and abroad.
Neither Spencer nor Christy receives any research support or funding from
oil, coal or industrial companies or organizations, or from any private or
special interest groups. All of their climate research funding comes from
state and federal grants or contracts.
For additional information:
Dr. John Christy, (256) 961-7763
john.christy@nsstc.uah.edu
Dr. Roy Spencer, (256) 966-7960
roy.spencer@nsstc.uah.edu
-- 30 --
For more information,
Dr. John Christy, UAH, (256) 961-7763
christy@nsstc.uah.edu
Dr. Roy Spencer, UAH, (256) 961-7960
roy.spencer@msfc.nasa.gov
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