From the NOAA press release, just in time for Copenhagen. Of course the satellite record for August tells another story that is not quite so alarming as NCDC’s take on it.
AMS Fellow and CCM, Joe D’Aleo of ICECAP has this to say about it:.
Icecap Note: to enable them to make the case the oceans are warming, NOAA chose to remove satellite input into their global ocean estimation and not make any attempt to operationally use Argo data in the process. This resulted in a jump of 0.2C or more and ‘a new ocean warmth record’ in July. ARGO tells us this is another example of NOAA’s inexplicable decision to corrupt data to support political agendas.
– Anthony
Global surface temperature anomalies for the month of August 2009. Temperature is compared to the average global temperature from 1961-1990.
Visualization of world’s land and ocean surface temperature.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest for any August on record, and the warmest on record averaged for any June-August (Northern Hemisphere summer/Southern Hemisphere winter) season according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The preliminary analysis is based on records dating back to 1880.
NCDC scientists also reported that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for August was second warmest on record, behind 1998. For the June-August 2009 season, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was third warmest on record.
Global Highlights – Summer
- The June-August worldwide ocean surface temperature was also the warmest on record at 62.5 degrees F, 1.04 degrees F above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees F.
- The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the June-August season was 61.2 degrees F, which is the third warmest on record and 1.06 degrees F above the 20th century average of 60.1 degrees F.
Global Highlights – August
- The worldwide ocean surface temperature of 62.4 degrees F was the warmest on record for any August, and 1.03 degrees F above the 20th century average of 61.4 degrees F.
- Separately, the global land surface temperature of 58.2 degrees F was 1.33 degrees F above the 20th century average of 56.9 degrees F, and ranked as the fourth warmest August on record.
- Large portions of the world’s land mass observed warmer-than-average temperatures in August. The warmest departures occurred across Australia, Europe, parts of the Middle East, northwestern Africa, and southern South America. Both Australia and New Zealand had their warmest August since their records began.
- The Southern Hemisphere average temperatures for land and ocean surface combined were the warmest on record for August.
Other Notable Developments
Current sea ice extent as measured by NOAA’s GOES, POES, and DMSP satellites.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
- For the year to date, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature of 58.3 degrees F tied with 2003 for the fifth-warmest January-August period on record. This value is 0.99 degree F above the 20th century average.
- According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic sea ice covered an average of 2.42 million square miles during August. This is 18.4 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent, and is generally consistent with a decline of August sea ice extent since 1979.
- NSIDC data indicated Antarctic sea ice extent in August was 2.7 percent above the 1979-2000 average. This is consistent with the trend during recent decades of modest increases in August Antarctic sea ice extent.
Watch NOAA’s visualization of the world’s land and ocean surface temperature.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the oceans to surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.
It was a warm August in New Zealand but May and June were very cold. The Waikato valley where I live had the coldest May on record according to the local newspaper. September has had a number of very cold late frosts as well.
Sure comes as a surprise, the coolest weather for this time of year that we can remember here in Tulsa, but we are only one small data point… I guess those politicians are going to do whatever they want anyway.
We seem to win all the battles yet still lose the war!
looks like “expert” NASA etc. sunspot predictions have been completely/way off the mark see graphs
http://www.solarcycle24.com/
Its very interesting that record cool temps for major regions of the American continent have been recorded but magically NOAA has high records…..
I smell a fish… a dead fish….
BTW I believe the owner of Solar 24 is definitely not a skeptic (As listed here). Its a “no comment/opinion” on the matter site.. I think from what I see (although the blog comments seem to be skeptical generally.
I notice a “hotspot” at the southern tip of South America. Could that be related to steam, hot gases, and hot ash the Chaiten volcano in Chile?
“NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, […]”
Here we go with this nonsense again. They really should change “understands and predicts” to “tries to understand & predict” …but perhaps honesty isn’t the objective.
“this is another example of NOAA’s inexplicable decision to corrupt data to support political agendas.”
Sadly, too much of our government is being aligned to support political agendas rather than reality. The EPA and such operations as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are other examples. Forget the reality, we must support the theme!
I don’t know which is worse; the corruption of science or the billions of dollars that are wasted from such idiocy.
I’ve heard quite a bit about the seas being the hottest they’ve ever been this year. I’ve also come to believe that hot seas equals an increase in hurricanes. Clearly, that hasn’t happened this year. Does anyone have a theory as to why? Are the seas not as hot as advertised, as the satellites suggest? Is there no relationship between ocean temps and hurricanes? Does el little somehow affect the Gulf of Mexico?
Also….the east US (especially the NE) has been rather cool. Not sure where the red comes from.
Also…I am sure they want to ignore the austral spring average lows in Vostok over the next week , some of which exceed -100 Degrees F.
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=vostok,%20antarctica&wuSelect=WEATHER
Something is very fishy in the NOAA report.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
i know this may be incredibly simplistic, but i wonder if the oceans are releasing heat. someone please blast me because i can’t stop thinking this, but i know it is probably absurd!
There are those of us who have stopped coming to the SC24 cheerleading practice ‘games’.
Would you expect your 0-16 team to suddenly turn around in one season and go 19-0 all the way to the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl? Ridiculous.
I do not trust this cycle, it’s too flaky.
The spot heard round the bend in STEREO Behind might make it, and it might get snuffed.
Want to call the odds?
We all know this summer was late, we know the melt was short in the Arctic and the freeze is early. We all know the data is being railroaded, stuffed into a blender and candy-coated with hot sauce and injected into a GCM computer to present at Copenhagen. Isn’t that special?
” Is there no relationship between ocean temps and hurricanes? ”
Or no relationship between global temps and NOAA reports?
Didn’t we just read that June-August 2009 was the 32d coldest for that period at 0.4°F below the 20th century average? Now the story is “The world’s ocean surface temperature was . . . the warmest on record averaged for any June-August” and “the global land surface temperature of 58.2 degrees F was 1.33 degrees F above the 20th century average of 56.9 degrees F, and ranked as the fourth warmest August on record.”
How can that be? How can the UAH measurements show a 0.19°C anomaly for August and this new NASA report show a 0.723°C anomaly?
Lucy! You got some ‘splainin’ to do.
Kevin (21:50:52) :
The hurricanes are regularly observed to grow over very warm waters.
Forecasters have learned to accurately work with it.
They surely did not find warmer water this season.
rbateman (22:03:21) :
Kevin (21:50:52) :
The hurricanes are regularly observed to grow over very warm waters.
Forecasters have learned to accurately work with it.
They surely did not find warmer water this season.
Well the facts come out and NOAA is again on the short end of the stick.. Too Funny!!
If “NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the oceans to surface of the sun”, then surely it could replace all those bureaucrats with a couple of archivists and a software support engineer. Samantha knows a couple of old archivists! (for those in the UK)
Kevin (21:50:52) :Does el little somehow affect the Gulf of Mexico?
El Pequeno [and he is a little guy ain’t he?] affects the entire Atlantic basin.
Regardless…very good point about the sea temps.
They don’t seem to be translating into the Shakespearian Katrina-Rita-Wilma bitches of 2005, no doubt.
Something is VERY fishy with the NOAA report.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
Perth (SW Western Australia) had a cool wet and overcast August, but there were very warm temperatures recorded over in the eastern states for the month. What confuddles me is this… why are both the poles showing increasing ice coverage if the ocean surface temps are so warm? What the heck is keeping the poles frozen?
Note how they neglect to mention the increased Arctic ice coverage for the last 2 years by looking back to earlier averages? As Aesop said:
“We can easily represent things as we wish them to be.”
Lies, damned lies, statistics… and then there’s modelling…
When weather forecasting becomes subject to politics, our climate has to suffer.
At least we know they screw us.
Fortunately we can rely on Anthony and our Sun.
They are respectably spot on and spotless.
No Satellite data, no Argo data – It’s called cherry picking…
Once again:
Earth has been warming for about 17,000 years. I used to say 19,000 but recent publications claim the lesser number. There have been interruptions, most recently for the Little Ice Age, then the warming resumed. Nothing has changed as far as anyone knows so it should not be surprising that recent years are near the top of the heap for warmth. It would be quite surprising if summer was only the 100th warmest since 1880.
NOAA seems not to be able to measure temperature let alone understand it. Same about Arctic Sea ice and energy in the oceans.
For NOAA to not mention the growing Arctic Sea ice is outrageously stupid.
Think NOAA wll end up with egg on their faces, like the good old Met office have already. The politics of weather (climate) will completely destroy the reputaons of these once respected organisations.
Trust them? – not with a bargepole :-((
We absolutely, definitely did not have above average temperatures in August in the UK. For me the hottest year ever in the UK was 1976. I was in the sea everyday for the entire summer holiday. I went in once this year, in August. It was cold.
“vg (21:34:17) :
BTW I believe the owner of Solar 24 is definitely not a skeptic”
solarcycle24.com started as a service for radio amateurs, like VE3EN himself.
Radio amateurs thinks of sun spots in a very different way from the climate change crowd.
The quality of the site have created a lot of traffic from warmers, skeptics, spaceweather fanatics and many others.
/Mikkel