A newer version of this visualization is available.

GISTEMP Climate Spiral

Released Monday, March 7, 2022

ID: 4975

- Visualizations by:
- Mark SubbaRao

The GISTEMP climate spiral 1880-2021. This version is in Celsius, see below for an alternate version in Fahrenheit.

The GISTEMP climate spiral 1880-2021. This version is in The GISTEMP climate spiral 1880-2021. This version is in Fahrenheit, see above for an alternate version in Celsius.

The visualization presents monthly global temperature anomalies between the years 1880-2021. These temperatures are based on the GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4), an estimate of global surface temperature change. Anomalies are defined relative to a base period of 1951-1980. The data file used to create this visualization can be accessed here.

The Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) is a NASA laboratory managed by the Earth Sciences Division of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.

The 'climate spiral' is a visualization designed by climate scientist Ed Hawkins from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading. Climate spiral visualizations have been widely distributed, a version was even part of the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Earth

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Visualizers
- Mark SubbaRao (NASA/GSFC)
- Ed Hawkins (National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading)
Technical support
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

This page was originally published on Monday, March 7, 2022.
This page was last updated on Friday, January 10, 2025 at 12:13 AM EST.

Datasets used

GISTEMP [GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP)]
ID: 585

Type: Model Sensor: GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) Collected by: NASA/GISS

The GISS Surface Temperature Analysis version 4 (GISTEMP v4) is an estimate of global surface temperature change. Graphs and tables are updated around the middle of every month using current data files from NOAA GHCN v4 (meteorological stations) and ERSST v5 (ocean areas), combined as described in our publications Hansen et al. (2010), Lenssen et al. (2019), and Lenssen et al. (2024).

Credit: Lenssen, N., G.A. Schmidt, M. Hendrickson, P. Jacobs, M. Menne, and R. Ruedy, 2024: A GISTEMPv4 observational uncertainty ensemble. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 129, no. 17, e2023JD040179, doi:10.1029/2023JD040179.

This dataset can be found at: https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
See all pages that use this dataset