News — The University of Alabama in HuntsvilleEarth System Science Center
Global trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.14 C per decade
March temperatures (preliminary):"¢Global composite temp.: +0.09 C (about 0.16 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year average for March."¢Northern Hemisphere: +0.43 C (about 0.77 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-year average for March."¢Southern Hemisphere: - 0.25 C (about 0.45 degrees Fahrenheit) below 20-year average for March.
February temperatures (revised):"¢Global Composite: + 0.02 C above 20-year average"¢Northern Hemisphere: + 0.25 C above 20-year average"¢Southern Hemisphere: - 0.21 C below 20-year average
(All temperature variations are based on a 20-year average (1979-1998) for the month reported.)
Notes on data released April 15, 2008:The La Nina cooling of the tropical atmosphere continued in March, with temperatures in the tropics falling to their coldest seasonally-adjusted temperature (-0.49 C below the 20-year average for March) since the La Nina of March 1989, according to Dr. John Christy, a professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center (ESSC) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Tropical temperatures in March 1989 dropped -0.72 C (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) below seasonal norms.
Color maps of local temperature anomalies may soon be available on-line at
The processed temperature data is available on-line at
* * * *As part of an ongoing joint project between UAH, NOAA and NASA, Christy and Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in the ESSC, use data gathered by microwave sounding units on NOAA and NASA 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 "public" 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.
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