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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The Climate of 1997
Global Land Surface Temperature

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Annual Global Land Surface Mean Temperature Anomalies

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The global land surface temperature anomalies time series was produced at NCDC from the Global Historical Climatological Network (GHCN) data base. The red curve is the annual temperature time series. It shows that 1997 is one of the four warmest years on record.

Version 2 of GHCN includes previously unavailable Colonial Era data that fill in data sparse times and places. Objective homogeneity adjustments were applied to all long-term stations. GHCN's unique duplicate preservation scheme preserved the integrity of the input data streams. A First-Difference area averaging technique maximizes the global data available for analysis and takes the place of deriving anomalies from a climatological reference period. Updates for December data were provided by the NOAA/NWS Climate Prediction Center from GTS CLIMAT reports. An update system for GHCN developed at NCDC subjects the most recent data to the same final quality control as the historical data.

for further information on GHCN, contact:
Thomas Peterson
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: thomas.c.peterson@noaa.gov

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