 Global Temperature
| The average global temperature in the December 2000 - February 2001 period was 0.40C (0.72F) above the 1880-2000 long-term mean (figure above). This temperature reflects conditions for both land and ocean surfaces. Although the persistence of the cold phase of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (La Nina) in the equatorial Pacific continues to be associated with cooler-than-average conditions in the tropics (20N-20S), globally averaged temperatures remained much above average. This December-February (DJF) period tied with DJF 1999-2000 as the seventh warmest since reliable global records began in 1880. The six warmest DJF periods have all occurred since 1983, and include in decreasing order: 1998, 1999, 1995, 1988, 1983, and 1991. Sea surface temperatures were the sixth warmest, 0.35 above average, while land surface temperatures were 0.54C (0.97F) above average, the 15th warmest.
Temperatures in the lowest 8km of the troposphere were 0.04C (.07F) below the 1980-1998 average. Ten DJF seasons have been warmer and ten have been cooler than the December-February 2000-2001 season. Lower tropospheric temperature data is collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by NASA and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
|
The effect of La Nina on surface temperatures in the tropics is evident in the adjacent figure. The average anomaly in the 20N-20S latitude band was 0.22C (0.40F) above average, 0.36C (0.65F) cooler than the average temperature recorded during the recent warm phase of ENSO (1997-1998). Temperatures north of 20N were 0.55C (0.99F) above average. Temperatures south of 20S were 0.54C (0.97F) above average, the 2nd warmest DJF on record. These near-record warm temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere extratropics reflect anomalously warm temperatures for both land and ocean surfaces.
|
larger image
|
larger image
|
The adjacent figure shows December 2000 - February 2001 temperature anomalies calculated from available in-situ stations using a 1961-1990 base period. The warmest seasonal anomalies occurred across much of the high-latitude region of North America with temperature anomalies greater than 5C (9F) in much of Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. Above-normal temperatures also covered Europe and the Mediterranean from North Africa to the Barents Sea. A large area of colder-than-normal temperatures stetched from central Russia across eastern sections of Mongolia and northeast China. Areas of northeast China endured extreme winter conditions during the December-February period. Below-normal temperatures also covered much of northern Australia, while warmer than average temperatures were prevalent in southeastern parts of the continent.
|
Global Precipitation
The adjacent map shows the December 2000 through February 2001 precipitation anomalies with respect to the 1961-1990 base period. Widespread wetter-than-normal conditions covered much of Argentina and parts of western Brazil and Bolivia. Above-normal precipitation also occurred in parts of Western Europe, the Far East and areas of northern Australia. Areas that have been subject to long-term drier-than-normal conditions continued to experience below-normal precipitation during the past three months. These areas include southeastern and northwestern regions of the United States, parts of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East and southeastern sections of Australia. Additional precipitation data are available on the Global Regional Analyses page as well as the United States National and Regional pages.
|
larger image
|
For further information, contact:
Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4750
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov
Top of Page
 NCDC / Climate Monitoring / Climate of 2001 / Global / Search / Help
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2001/win/global.html
Downloaded Saturday, 05-Jul-2008 20:45:38 EDT
Last Updated Friday, 08-Jul-2005 14:52:50 EDT
Please see the NCDC Contact Page if you have questions or comments.
|
