First Half of 2010 Only Second Warmest, University Research Shows
The University of Alabama Huntsville is reporting that no global average temperature records were broken during the first six months of 2010.
John Christy, Ph.D., professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama said June was the second warmest June in the 32-year satellite temperature record and the first six months of 2010 were also the second warmest on record.
Compared to seasonal norms, temperatures in the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere continued to fall from May through June as the El Nino Pacific Ocean warming event fades and indications of a La Nina Pacific Ocean cooling event increase.
The warmest Junes on record were June 1998 at 0.56 C warmer than seasonal norms, June 2010 at +0.44 and June 2002 at +0.36.
As part of an ongoing joint project between UAHuntsville, NOAA and NASA, Christy and Roy Spencer, Ph.D., a principal research scientist in the ESSC, use data gathered by advanced microwave sounding units on NOAA and NASA satellites to get accurate temperature readings for almost all regions of the Earth. This includes remote desert, ocean and rain forest areas where reliable climate data are not otherwise available.
The satellite-based instruments measure the temperature of the atmosphere from the surface up to an altitude of about eight kilometers above sea level. Once the monthly temperature data is collected and processed, it is placed in a "public" computer file for immediate access by atmospheric scientists in the United States and abroad.
Neither Christy nor Spencer receives any research support or funding from oil, coal or industrial companies or organizations, or from any private or special interest groups. All of their climate research funding comes from federal and state grants or contracts.