NASA Climate Spiral 1880-2022

A visualization of zonal temperature anomalies. The latitude zones are 90N-64N, 64N-44N, 44N-24N, 24N-EQU, EQU-24S, 24S-44S, 44S-64S, 64S-90S. The anomalies are calculated relative to a baseline period of 1951-1980. This version is in Fahrenheit, an alternate version in Celsius is also available. A visualization of zonal temperature anomalies. The latitude zones are 90N-64N, 64N-44N, 44N-24N, 24N-EQU, EQU-24S, 24S-44S, 44S-64S, 64S-90S. The anomalies are calculated relative to a baseline period of 1951-1980. This version is in Celsius, an alternate version in Fahrenheit is also available. The visualization presents zonal temperature anomalies between the years 1880-2022. The visualization illustrates that the Arctic is warming much faster than other regions of the Earth.These temperatures are based on the GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4), an estimate of global surface temperature change. The latitude zones are 90N-64N, 64N-44N, 44N-24N, 24N-EQU, EQU-24S, 24S-44S, 44S-64S, 64S-90S. 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.

Complete transcript available. 2022 effectively tied for Earth’s 5th warmest year since 1880, and the last 9 consecutive years have been the warmest 9 on record. NASA looks back at how heat was expressed in different ways around the world in 2022.Music credit: “Ad Infinitum,” “Arctic Blue,” and “Recovery” from Universal Production Music

This color-coded map in Robinson projection displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies. Normal temperatures are shown in white. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are calculated over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. The final frame represents the 5 year global temperature anomalies from 2018-2022. This data visualization shows the 2022 global surface temperature anomaly compared with the 1951-1980 average. This data visualization shows only the 2022 global surface temperature anomalies on a rotating globe to highlight the La Niña. 2022 was one of the warmest on record despite a third consecutive year of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean. NASA scientists estimate that La Niña’s cooling influence may have lowered global temperatures about 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit from what the average would have been under more typical ocean conditions. Colortable is both degrees fahrenheit and degrees celsius. This image is the single year 2022 GISS temperature anomaly as compared with the 1951-1980 average. This version does not have any titles or text overlays, except for the corresponding colorbar. This frame sequence of color-coded global temperature anomalies in robinson projection display a progression of changing global surface temperatures anomalies in even degrees Fahrenheit. The first frame in this sequence represents the data from 1880-1884. The second frame represents 1881-1885, ...and the last frame represents 2018-2022. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. This sequence of images are the corresponding date overlays for the 5 year rolling averages used in the first visualization on this page. This frame sequence of color-coded global temperature anomalies in degrees celsius is designed to be displayed on the Science on a Sphere projection system. Each image represents a unique 5 year rolling time period with no fades between datasets. Frame 1884 represents data from 1880-1884, frame 1885 represents data from 1881-1885,... frame 2022 represents data from 2018-2022. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. This is the colorbar for the Science on a Sphere frameset above. It is in degrees celsius.

A data visualization of the Arctic sea ice extent from October 1978 to September 2022. This version is in units of square miles, see below for version in square kilometers. A data visualization of the Arctic sea ice extent from October 1978 to September 2022. This version is in units of square kilometers, see above for version in square miles. This data visualization shows the Arctic sea ice extent from October 1978 to September 2022. The amount of Arctic sea ice varies seasonally, typically reaching a maximum in March and a minimum in September. Recently, the Arctic sea ice minimum has been decreasing at a rate of 13% per decade. Please see Global Climate Change Vital Signs: Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Extent for more information. Related pages

The change in the distribution of land temperature anomalies over the years 1951 to 2020 A ridgeline plot showing how the land temperature anomaly distribution has changed over seven decades This visualization shows how the distribution of land temperature anomalies has varied over time. As the planet has warmed, we see the peak of the distribution shifting to the right. The distribution of temperatures broadens as well. This broadening is most likely due to differential regional warming rather than increased temperature variability at any given location.These distributions are calculated from the Goddard Institute of Space Studies GISTEMP surface temperature analysis. Distributions are determined for each year using a kernal density esitmator, and we morph between those distributions in the animation.NASA’s full surface temperature data set – and the complete methodology used to make the temperature calculation – are available at: https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistempGISS 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 python based Jupyter Notebook used to create these visualizations is available. Click here to download. Related pages