The combined land and ocean surface temperature in 2007 fell within the 10 highest on record, while the average land temperature was the warmest since global records began in 1880. In the low to midtroposphere, the annual global mean temperature was among the five warmest since reliable global records began in 1958, but still cooler than the record warmest year of 1998. For the fourth consecutive year, the annual precipitation averaged over global land surfaces was above the long-term mean, although the anomaly was significantly less than in 2006 when the annual value was the eighth wettest since 1901. The globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) continued to increase in 2007, having risen to 382.7 ppm at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. The average rate of rise of CO2 has been 1.6 ppm yr–1 since 1980; however, since 2000 this has increased to 1.9 ppm yr–1. In addition, both methane (CH4 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were also higher in 2007.
The climate of 1996 can be characterized by several phenomena that reflect substantial deviations from the mean state of the atmosphere persisting fro...
The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon is a major contributor to the observed year-to-year variability in the Pacific Ocean and in the glo...
The global climate during 1998 was affected by opposite extremes of the ENSO cycle, with one of the strongest Pacific warm episodes (El Niño) in the ...
The global climate during 1997 was affected by both extremes of the El NiÒoñSouthern Oscillation (ENSO), with weak Pacific cold episode conditions p...
From a global perspective, the annual average surface temperature in 2004 was the fourth highest value observed since regular instrumental records beg...
Neutral ENSO conditions at the beginning of 2002 gave way to a strengthening El Niño episode during boreal summer. Weather patterns in many areas of ...
The global climate during 1999 was impacted by Pacific cold episode (La Niña) conditions throughout the year, which resulted in regional precipitatio...
The State of the Climate in 2006 report summarizes the year’s weather and climate conditions, both globally and regionally. In addition, the year is...
The possibility of long-term climate change continues to be a concern and focus for scientific investigations and for the development of government po...
The possibility of long-term climate change continues to be a concern and focus for scientific investigations, development of government policy, and p...
This report is designed to present a timely summary of recent observations of the global climate system and an early assessment and interpretation of ...
The year was characterized by a transition from a waning La Niña to a strengthening El Niño, which first developed in June. By December, SSTs were m...
The global mean temperature in 2008 was slightly cooler than that in 2007; however, it still ranks within the 10 warmest years on record. Annual mean ...