Newswise — Global trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.13 C per decade
June temperatures (preliminary):
Global composite temp.: -0.11 C (about 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit) below20-year average for June.
Northern Hemisphere: 0.00 C (about 0.00° Fahrenheit) above 20-year averagefor June.
Southern Hemisphere: -0.23 C (about 0.56 degrees Fahrenheit) below 20-yearaverage for June.
May temperatures (revised):
Global Composite: -0.18 C below 20-year averageNorthern Hemisphere: -0.05 C below 20-year averageSouthern Hemisphere: -0.31 C below 20-year average
(All temperature variations are based on a 20-year average (1979-1998) forthe month reported.)
Notes on data released July 7, 2008:
A La Nina Pacific Ocean cooling event continues to drive tropical and globaltemperatures: Globally, June 2008 was the coolest June since 1999, accordingto Dr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at TheUniversity of Alabama in Huntsville.
While the La Nina is a tropical event, cool temperatures covered a largeportion of the globe. Among the past 30 Junes, June 2008 was the thirdcoldest south of the Antarctic Circle, fourth coolest in the SouthernHemisphere and fifth coolest in the tropics.
The Antarctic continent saw its third coldest June in 30 years, withtemperatures averaging -1.53 C cooler than the seasonal norm. Portions ofAnarctica south of Australia were as much as 5.5 C (9.9 degrees Fahrenehit)colder than seasonal norms for the first month of winter.
While La Nina has caused global average temperatures to fall by more than0.7 C (about 1.26 degrees F) since January 2007, June was only the eleventhcooler than normal month since January 1999.
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As part of an ongoing joint project between UAH, NOAA and NASA, Christy andDr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in the ESSC, use datagathered by microwave sounding units on NOAA and NASA satellites to getaccurate temperature readings for almost all regions of the Earth. Thisincludes remote desert, ocean and rain forest areas for which reliableclimate 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 is placedin a "public" computer file for immediate access by atmospheric scientistsin the U.S. and abroad.
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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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