-- www.BerkeleyEarth.org
BERKELEY, California, Jan. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkeley Earth has constructed an estimate of the global average temperature for 2014.
The key findings:
- The global surface temperature average (land and sea) for 2014 was nominally the warmest since the global instrumental record began in 1850; however, within the margin of error (0.05C), it is tied with 2005 and 2010, and so we can't be certain it set a new record.
- For land, 2014 was nominally the 4th warmest year since 1753 (when the land surface temperature record began)
- For oceans, 2014 was the warmest year on record since 1850. The second warmest year was 2010, and 2014 exceeds this by +0.078C.
- For the contiguous United States, 2014 ranked nominally as the 38th warmest year on record since 1850.
The details behind these conclusions, including charts showing the warming and maps showing the distribution, have been posted on the Berkeley Earth website, at www.BerkeleyEarth.org/2014
The warmth in 2014 is not uniform across the Earth. The US state of Michigan in 2014 recorded its 14th coldest year (-1.12C relative to the 1961-1990 average). In contrast, the US state of California, in the midst of a severe drought, recorded its warmest year to date (+1.92C) besting the previous record by 0.76C. Overall, the contiguous United States had its 38th warmest year (+0.23C). For a map see www.BerkeleyEarth.org/2014
Internationally, Germany (+2.10 C), the United Kingdom (+1.33C), Sweden (+2.23 C) and several other European countries also set all-time records for high annual average temperature, as did the continent of Europe as a whole (+1.69C).
In total, we estimate that 8.4% of Earth's surface and 5.6% of its land surface set all-time record high annual averages in 2014; 0.11% of the Earth's surface and 0.03% of land set all-time record low annual averages in 2014.
Our margin of uncertainty was remarkably small (0.05C with 95% confidence), thanks, in part, by the inclusion of data from over 30,000 temperature stations, and by the use of optimized statistical methods. Even so, the highest temperature year could not be distinguished. That is, of course, an indication that the Earth's average temperature for the last decade has changed little; the ten warmest years all occur since 1998.
Full report: www.BerkeleyEarth.org/2014
