Home Library Strategic Plan 2003 Final Report Annex C. Graphics and Photography Source Information Figure 4-1 |
Figure 4-1: The Earth's surface temperature has increased by about 0.6�C over the record of direct temperature measurements (1860-2000, top panel) -- a rise that is unprecedented, at least based on proxy temperature data for the Northern Hemisphere, over the last millennium (bottom panel). In the top panel the global mean surface temperature is shown year-by-year (red bars with very likely ranges as thin black line) and approximately decade-by-decade (continuous red line). Analyses take into account data gaps, random instrumental errors and uncertainties, uncertainties in bias corrections in the ocean surface temperature data, and also uncertainties in adjustments for urbanization over the land. The lower panel merges proxy data (year-by-year blue line with very likely ranges as gray band, 50-year-average purple line) and the direct temperature measurements (red line) for the Northern Hemisphere. The proxy data consist of tree rings, corals, ice cores, and historical records that have been calibrated against thermometer data. Insufficient data are available to assess such changes in the Southern Hemisphere. Source: IPCC (2001d).
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