NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Use the form below to select from a collection of monthly summaries recapping climate-related occurrences on both a global and national scale.
Upper Air ReportJune 2005
TroposphereCurrent MonthThe table below summarizes mid-tropospheric conditions for June 2005. These temperatures are for the atmospheric layer centered in the mid-troposphere (approximately 2-6 miles above the Earth's surface) which also includes a portion of the lower stratosphere. (The MSU channel used to measure mid-tropospheric temperatures receives about 25 percent of its signal above 6 miles). Analysis of the satellite record that began in 1979 indicates that global temperatures are increasing in the mid-troposphere, but the magnitude of the trend differs based on the analysis methods used in adjusting for factors such as orbital decay and inter-satellite differences. Fu et al. (2004) (University of Washington {UW}), developed a method for quantifying the stratospheric contribution to the satellite record of tropospheric temperatures and applied an adjustment to the UAH and RSS temperature record that attempts to remove the satellite contribution (cooling influence) from the middle troposphere record. This method results in trends that are larger than the those from the respective source. The UAH and the UW-UAH adjusted data both indicate that June 2005 was the 6th warmest June. The RSS data and the UW-RSS adjusted data indicate that June 2005 was 5th and 4th warmest, respectively, since records began in 1979. |
| June | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAH mid-trop | +0.11°C/0.20°F | 6th warmest | 1998 (+0.51°C/0.92°F) | +0.04°C/decade |
| *RSS mid-trop | +0.22°C/0.40°F | 5th warmest | 1998 (+0.58°C/1.04°F) | +0.12°C/decade |
| UW-UAH mid-trop | +0.20°C/0.36°F | 6th warmest | 1998 (+0.64°C/1.15°F) | +0.09°C/decade |
| UW-*RSS mid-trop | +0.30°C/0.54°F | 4th warmest | 1998 (+0.70°C/1.26°F) | +0.17°C/decade |
| *Version 02_1 |
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| Mid-tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by NASA and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). An independent analysis is also performed by Remote Sensing Systems(RSS) and the University of Washington. |
StratosphereCurrent MonthThe table below summarizes stratospheric conditions for June 2005. The stratosphere is located between 10-14 miles above the Earth's surface. Over the last decade, stratospheric temperatures have been below average in large part due to the depletion of ozone. The large increase in temperature in 1982 was caused by the volcanic eruption of El Chichon in Mexico, and the increase in 1991 was a result of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. Therefore the base period used is 1984-1990 which was chosen to avoid contamination by these eruptions. |
| June | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAH stratosphere | -0.66°C (-1.19°F) | 3rd coolest | 1982 (+0.84°C/1.51°F) |
| *RSS stratosphere | -0.48°C (-0.86°F) | 4th coolest | 1982 (+0.77°C/1.39°F) |
| UW-UAH stratosphere | -0.67°C (-1.21°F) | 3rd coolest | 1982 (+0.84°C/1.51°F) |
| UW-*RSS stratosphere | -0.42°C (-0.76°F) | 4th coolest | 1982 (+0.83°C/1.50°F) |
| *Version 02_1 |
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| Mid-tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by NASA and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). An independent analysis is also performed by Remote Sensing Systems(RSS) and the University of Washington. |
