Global trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.13 C per decade
March temperatures (preliminary)
Global composite temp.: +0.21 C (about 0.63 degrees Fahrenheit) above20-year average for March.
Northern Hemisphere: +0.31 C (about 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-yearaverage for March.
Southern Hemisphere: +0.10 C (about 0.04 degrees Fahrenheit) above 20-yearaverage for March.
February temperatures (revised):
Global Composite: +0.35 C above 20-year average
Northern Hemisphere: +0.68 C above 20-year average
Southern Hemisphere: +0.02 C above 20-year average
(All temperature variations are based on a 20-year average (1979-1998) forthe month reported.)
As part of an ongoing joint project between The University of Alabama inHuntsville, NOAA and NASA, Dr. John Christy, director of UAHuntsville'sEarth System Science Center, and Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal researchscientist in the ESSC, use data gathered by microwave sounding units on NOAAand NASA satellites to get accurate temperature readings for almost allregions of the Earth. This includes remote desert, ocean and rain forestareas for which reliable climate data are not otherwise available.
The satellite-based instruments measure the temperature of the atmospherefrom the surface up to an altitude of about eight kilometers above sealevel. Once the monthly temperature data is collected and processed, it isplaced in a "public" computer file for immediate access by atmosphericscientists in the U.S. and abroad.
Neither Spencer nor Christy receives any research support or funding fromoil, coal or industrial companies or organizations, or from any private orspecial interest groups. All of their climate research funding comes fromstate and federal grants or contracts.
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