State of the Climate
Global Analysis
March 2002

Global Highlights:

• *Global average combined land and sea surface temperature was the warmest on record for March
• Lower tropospheric temperatures were warmer than average
• March temperatures were greater than 4°C (7.2°F) above average from eastern Europe to the Russian Far East
• Above average precipitation was most notable across northern Argentina and Uruguay, with below average precipitation across much of Australia and Brazil

Contents of this Section:

• Introduction
• Global Temperatures
• Global Precipitation
• Microwave Sounding Unit Data

• Although surface temperatures in the tropics have not reached the warmth observed during the latter stages of the 1998 El Niño episode, the global land and ocean temperature in March 2002 was the warmest in the 1880-2002 record, 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the long-term average
• Temperatures averaged across land areas were second warmest on record globally, or 1.50°C (2.70°F) above the long-term March mean
• For the period January through March, combined land and ocean temperatures tied with the El Niño year of 1998 as warmest on record, 0.72°C (1.30°F) above the mean
• Land areas experienced record warmth during the period January-March, or 1.39°C (2.50°F) above the 1880-2001 average

• Based on data available at the time of this report, the global average land and ocean temperature for the period October 2001-March 2002 was 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the 1880-2001 mean, the second warmest such period on record
• Record high global monthly temperatures were established in January 2002 and November 2001

• Serial monthly global surface temperature departures with respect to a 1971-2000 mean are shown in the figure to the right
• The recent return to record or near record temperature departures is evident, and monthly global temperatures (land and ocean) have been warmer than the 1971-2000 average for the last 71 consecutive months

• During March, much above average precipitation fell across parts of northern Argentina, Uruguay and the U.S. Tennessee Valley
• Drier than average weather prevailed across much of Australia, Brazil, western Europe and much of the central and western U.S.
• Additional regional analysis can be found on the Global Regional page

• Temperatures in the lowest 8km (5 miles) of the troposphere were 0.21°C (0.38°F)
  above average
• Lower tropospheric temperatures were fifth warmest since 1979

• March temperatures were below average in the lower stratosphere, with a departure of -0.20°C (-0.36°F)
• March temperatures in the lower stratosphere have been below average each year since 1993. The overall cooling trend is consistent with the response to losses in stratospheric ozone while the warm anomalies in 1992-1993 are due to the warming influence of the Mount Pinatubo eruption which occurred in the Philippines in June 1991.