Summer Temperature Anomalies for the Northern Hemisphere, 1955-2011
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- Visualizations by:
- Greg Shirah
- View full credits
This visualization shows a flat map of the Earth with summertime temperature anomalies for the Northern Hemisphere. This analysis compares observed seasonal mean temperatures (June-July-August) to the seasonal mean temperatures during a base period from 1951 to 1980.
The colors correspond to statistical standard deviations from the seasonal mean of the base period. The hot anomalies are defined as "hot" (orange); "very hot" (red); and "extremely hot" (bown). The cold anomalies are defined as "cold" (light blue); "very cold" (dark blue); and "extremely cold" (purple). Regions in white fall within the normal category.
The visualization shows the increasing occurrence, in particular, of "extremely hot" temperatures since 2000. While these temperatures were experienced by less than 1 percent of land areas during the base period, about 10 percent of land areas have experienced these summer temperatures since 2000. These extreme heat events include the heat waves in Europe in 2003, Russia in 2010, and Texas and Oklahoma in 2011.
No data is shown below the equator because this only uses Northern Hemisphere June-July-August temperature data. The visualization shows the data for 1955, 1965, 1975 and then 1985-2011.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center GISS and Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animators
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)
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Writer
- Patrick Lynch (NASA/GSFC)
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Scientists
- James Hansen (NASA/GSFC GISS)
- Makiko Sato (Columbia University, Center for Climate Systems Research)
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Producer
- Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)
Datasets used in this visualization
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
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ID: 11066 Produced Video
Hot Hot Heat
Read moreSummers in the Northern Hemisphere are getting hotter. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies analyzed temperature data for land in this part of the world and found that extremely hot summers are more likely now than they were 30 years ago. Crop-devastating heat through the summer of 2012, for example, included the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States. Scientists show the rise in likelihood of these events is the result of global warming, a connection that becomes evident in the statistics. The frequency of "hot" (orange), "very hot" (red) and "extremely hot" (brown) summers in the Northern Hemisphere in relation to the average summer temperature determined for the region from 1951 to 1980 can be seen in the visualization. Summers defined as "average" (white), unusually "cold" (light blue), "very cold" (dark blue) and "extremely cold" (purple) are also shown. ||
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