One of the great things about our current state of technology is the nearly instant reporting we can get from remote sensing platforms. Thanks to Dr. Roy Spencer & Dr. Danny Braswell, GHCC at the University of Alabama, Hunsville, we can watch global temperatures of the lower troposphere in near real-time at this page:
http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/
According to UAH: Daily averaged temperatures of the Earth are measured by the AMSU flying on the NOAA-15 satellite. The satellite passes over most points on the Earth twice per day, at about 7:30 am and 7:30 pm local time. The AMSU measures the average temperature of the atmosphere in different layers from the surface up to about 135,000 feet or 41 kilometers. During global warming, the atmosphere near the surface is supposed to warm at least as fast as the surface warms, while the upper layers are supposed to cool much faster than the surface warms.
But as I understand it, the lower troposphere is supposed to be closely coupled to CO2 induced forcings. As we’ve seen from comparison to surface data sets such as HadCRUT, the UAH MSU lower troposphere tracks fairly well with surface temps.
You can learn more about how the Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit on NOAA-15 works and what coverage it has here at my post on it the instrument.
According to the UAH data For 2008, we are averaging about .4 to .5 degrees C cooler than last year. See the graph and click it for a larger one:
Click for larger graph
This tracks with some of the anecdotal eveidence we’ve been seeing in the weather in the northen hemisphere this spring, with late snowfalls, late frosts, and below normal temperatures. The northern latitude areas such as Canada have been very slow to have a spring season.
In Fargo, ND we are finishing our sixth straight month of below average temperatures (never a good thing in this climate), plus, we had our latest frost since 1969 this spring (I hope it was our last). A huge departure from last year’s relatively mild year (by our standards).
I’m sure Hansen will have something to say about that.
At what height are satellite data reported from this link, which is what is commonly referenced?
http://www.atmos.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/uahncdc.lt
Why doesn’t ch4 have a 20 yr average? ChLT shows consistently higher than the 20 yr avg.
When it said temperature trends should increase with height according to AGW hypothesis, what exactly does that mean? A breakdown of those layers would be helpful for everyone.
Thanks.
I’m being picky, but…
Quote: The satellite passes over most points on the Earth twice per day, at about 7:30 am and 7:30 pm local time.
This is quite a trick! What does it do the rest of the time?
Probably a coincidence but if you remove the seasonal trend, 2008 appears almost exactly inversely proportional to 2007; when temperatures rose above the overall trend in 2007, temperatures fell in 2008. Weird…
Rob, time zones . . . in each place it passes it is around 7:30 and 19:30.
Hansen might say: “Short term trends don’t mean anything. You need to look at longer trends, from, oh let’s say, 1600”.
Here in Southern Montana, the Beartooth Mountains look as white as they would normally look in March. I know short-term weather is only significant if it confirms the Warmers’ theology, but it does seem like we have returned to some cooler patterns. Beartooth Pass opened up in late May, but it was then shut down again by a big dump of snow. It is back open now but icy-http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/beartooth/opening.shtml
He WOULD say that, picking another cool period so we see a warming trend. How about going back to 1000 CE or 1 CE…
That’s rather amazing. Not only is it cooler on average, there doesn’t appear to be a single cross over in the 2007 and 2008 traces.
Lets see how long this data takes to be turned the other way,not long I bet.
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I would be interested in reading comment on this:
“Warming maximum in the tropical upper troposphere deduced from thermal winds”
Robert J. Allen & Steven C. Sherwood (Naural Geoscience, 25 May, 2008)
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo208.html;jsessionid=1AAD6F51B15CD5E8580C84466CE8CCCF
Thats .43 degrees F, not degrees C.
Right, lucia, with around 150 data points, what is the likelihood of that happening.
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The cloud cover is greater than I can remember for a long time in NE Oregon, where we usually see clear skies. Even Lewiston, Idaho, long known for hot spring days, was cool as a cucumber Saturday. The rain continues to pummel us and storm watch/warnings pop up everywhere. There was even a funnel cloud here. Many long-time folks have never seen one in Wallowa County till last week.
Sure wish we had daily graphs of cosmic rays hitting the earth along with daily graphs of overall cloud cover per hemisphere.
addendum: Snow once again to fall in the Wallowa Mountains all next week. The gondola at Wallowa Lake is still closed due to significant snow and weather disturbances at the top. Next week we will be just 9 degrees from freezing here in the valley. That means that for some gardens in low spots, frost will hit tender shoots. Meanwhile pastures are growing grass faster than the cows can eat it.
You know what? I am really starting to get pissed off at my tax dollars being spent on research grants that end up with articles I can’t have access to without joining some association group or paying $40 to read more than the abstract. The grant paid for the damned research. What is the extra money going for? I’ve been in research land. The article that came from our research is fully available on the internet free of charge. When we got our grant, the money paid for the entire effort, including publishing, so why do others charge a fee? I find it outrageous that many articles and data sets are hiding behind a veil of fees to see the stuff. All publicly funded articles, along with the data, should be made available to the public tax payer. I want my cloud cover, cosmic ray, and other data delivered!
REPLY: This green wall is made of greenbacks
I can say for one that in Berkeley this is the coldest summer I have every seen in the city, at least since I was 4 when i snowed. I’m hoping for more of that super rare snow this winter:)
Rod:
The satellite is moving through a fairly constant orbital plane with the Earth rotating underneath it. After each orbit, the Earth has rotated slightly bringing the next strip of the planet into view. I’m not sure about NOAA-15, but the early orbital pass with other NOAA polar orbiters was in one direction (descending for example) and the later orbital pass (12 hours later) was in the other direction (ascending). I used to receive the APT satellite images from these spacecraft when I taught meteorology. I received images from NOAA’s 9-12.
The y scale on the graph is in degrees Celcius.
The note at the bottom is incorrect in referencing Fahrenheit.
REPLY: that is what UAH put on as a caption, not my error.
Hw true and it semes very few get this al lfor free excpet poloticans and people like Al Gore. Everyone else ahs to pay jsut to see these reports.
Here in Minnesota.
Jan-May departure from average in degF.(1971-2000 climate normal)
International Falls
2006 +4.0
2007 +0.1
2008 -4.3
Duluth
2006 +4.7
2007 +0.9
2008 -2.1
Minneapolis
2006 +5.3
2007 +2.3
2008 -2.9
Jan 06 had a departure of +15 to +16 degF. It was like spring in the middle of winter, and I loved it.(and the heat bill, too)
A warming climate isn’t all THAT bad. Less harsh winters, and earlier springs. Aahh, the good old days.
Kim asks about the likelihood of every single daily temperature reading so far in 2008 being lower than its equivalent date in 2007.
Strangely enough I have just noticed that every single day this year I weigh considerably more than I did on the same date last year. What are the odds of that?
Is it 1 divided by 2 to power of 152?
Or is it actually very nearly 1, when you take into account all the food I have been eating lately.
If you follow American baseball, the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays have the best records which is a clear indication that not only is Earth cooling but that Hell is freezing over.