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Upper Air ReportJune 2008
Contents of this Section:
Troposphere
Temperatures above the Earth's surface are measured within the lower troposphere, middle troposphere, and stratosphere using in-situ balloon-borne instruments (radiosondes) and polar-orbiting satellites (NOAA's TIROS-N). The radiosonde and satellite records have been adjusted to remove time-dependent biases (artificialities caused by changes in radiosonde instruments and measurement practices as well as changes in satellite instruments and orbital features through time). Global averages from radiosonde data are available from 1958 to present, while satellite measurements began in 1979.
Lower Troposphere
These temperatures are for the lowest 8 km (5 miles) of the atmosphere. Information on the UAH and RSS sources of troposphere data is available.
| June | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest [Coolest] (or Next Warmest [Coolest]) Year on Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAH low-trop | -0.11°C/-0.20°F | 22nd warmest (9th coolest) |
1998 (+0.57°C/1.03°F) [1985 (-0.24°C/-0.43°F)] |
+0.09°C/decade |
| *RSS low-trop | +0.03°C/0.05°F | 18th warmest (13th coolest) |
1998 (+0.60°C/1.08°F) [1985 (-0.36°C/-0.65°F)] |
+0.15°C/decade |
*Version 03_0
| January- June |
Anomaly | Rank | Warmest [Coolest] (or Next Warmest [Coolest]) Year on Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAH low-trop | -0.03°C/-0.05°F | 20th warmest (11th coolest) |
1998 (+0.64°C/+1.15°F) [1989 (-0.21°C/-0.38°F)] |
+0.13°C/decade |
| *RSS low-trop | +0.01°C/+0.02°F | 21st warmest (10th coolest) |
1998 (+0.69°C/+1.24°F) [1985 (-0.30°C/-0.54°F)] |
+0.16°C/decade |
*Version 03_0
Mid-troposphere
These temperatures are for the atmospheric layer centered in the mid-troposphere (approximately 3-10 km (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 10 km (6 miles).) Because the stratosphere has cooled due to increasing greenhouse gases in the troposphere and losses of ozone in the stratosphere, the stratospheric contribution to the tropospheric average, as measured from satellites, may create an artificial component of cooling to the mid-troposphere temperatures. The University of Washington (UW) versions of the UAH and RSS analyses attempt to remove the stratospheric influence from the mid-troposphere measurements, and as a result the UW versions tend to have a larger warming trend than either the UAH or RSS versions. For additional information, please see NCDC's Microwave Sounding Unit page.
The radiosonde data used in this global analysis were developed using the Lanzante, Klein, Seidel (2003) ("LKS") bias-adjusted dataset and the First Difference Method (Free et al. 2004) (RATPAC). Additional details are available. Satellite data have been adjusted by 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 a third analysis has been performed by Dr. Qiang Fu of the University of Washington (UW) (Fu et al. 2004)** to remove the influence of the stratosphere on the mid-troposphere value. Global averages from radiosonde data are available from 1958 to present, while satellite measurements began in 1979.
Radiosonde measurements indicate that for the January-June year-to-date period, temperatures in the mid-troposphere were 0.13°C (0.24°F) above average, resulting in the twenty-first warmest January-June since global measurements began in 1958. However, as shown in the table below, satellite measurement of the January-June year-to-date period for the middle troposphere varied from fourth coolest (twenty-seventh warmest) to tenth coolest (twenty-first warmest) on record.
The global mid-troposphere temperatures were cooler than average in June 2008. As shown in the table below, satellite measurement for June 2008 ranked from third coolest (twenty-eighth warmest) to thirteenth coolest (eighteenth warmest) on record.
| June | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest [Coolest] (or Next Warmest [Coolest]) Year on Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAH mid-trop | -0.20°C/-0.36°F | 28th warmest (3rd coolest) |
1998 (+0.52°C/+0.94°F) [1989 (-0.29°C/-0.52°F)] |
+0.02°C/decade |
| *RSS mid-trop | -0.10°C/-0.18°F | 23rd warmest (8th coolest) |
1998 (+0.56°C/+1.01°F) [1989 (-0.28°C/-0.50°F)] |
+0.07°C/decade |
| **UW-UAH mid-trop | -0.13°C/-0.23°F | 22nd warmest (9th coolest) |
1998 (+0.64°C/+1.15°F) [1989 (-0.32°C/-0.58°F)] |
+0.07°C/decade |
| **UW-*RSS mid-trop | -0.03°C/-0.05°F | 18th warmest (13th coolest) |
1998 (+0.66°C/+1.19°F) [1989 (-0.30°C/-0.54°F)] |
+0.13°C/decade |
*Version 03_0
| January- June |
Anomaly | Rank | Warmest [Coolest] (or Next Warmest [Coolest]) Year on Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAH mid-trop | -0.18°C/-0.32°F | 27th warmest (4th coolest) |
1998 (+0.58°C/+1.04°F) [1989 (-0.26°C/-0.47°F)] |
+0.04°C/decade |
| *RSS mid-trop | -0.12°C/-0.22°F | 24th warmest (7th coolest) |
1998 (+0.62°C/+1.12°F) [1989 (-0.24°C/-0.43°F)] |
+0.09°C/decade |
| **UW-UAH mid-trop | -0.09°C/-0.16°F | 23rd warmest (8th coolest) |
1998 (+0.72°C/+1.30°F) [1989 (-0.28°C/-0.50°F)] |
+0.10°C/decade |
| **UW-*RSS mid-trop | -0.04°C/-0.07°F | 21st warmest (10th coolest) |
1998 (+0.74°C/+1.33°F) [1989 (-0.26°C/-0.47°F)] |
+0.15°C/decade |
| RATPAC | +0.13°C/+0.23°F | 21st warmest (31st coolest) |
1998 (+0.81°C/+1.46°F) [1965 (-0.60°C/-1.08°F)] |
+0.14°C/decade |
*Version 03_0
Stratosphere
The table below summarizes stratospheric conditions for June 2008. On average, the stratosphere is located approximately between 16-23 km (10-14 miles) above the Earth's surface. Over the last decade, stratospheric temperatures have been below average in part due to the depletion of ozone. The large positive anomaly in 1982 was caused by the volcanic eruption of El Chichon in Mexico, and the sharp jump in temperature in 1991 was a result of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. In both cases the temperatures returned to pre-eruption levels within two years.
| June | Anomaly | Rank | Coolest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAH stratosphere | -0.58°C (-1.04°F) | 5th coolest | 1996 (-0.69°C/-1.24°F) |
| *RSS stratosphere | -0.49°C (-0.88°F) | 5th coolest | 1996 (-0.61°C/-1.10°F) |
*Version 03_0
For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in June, see the Global Hazards page.
References
Christy, John R., R.W. Spencer, and W.D. Braswell, 2000: MSU tropospheric Temperatures: Dataset Construction and Radiosonde Comparisons. J. of Atmos. and Oceanic Technology, 17, 1153-1170.
Free, M., D.J. Seidel, J.K. Angell, J. Lanzante, I. Durre and T.C. Peterson (2005) Radiosonde Atmospheric Temperature Products for Assessing Climate (RATPAC): A new dataset of large-area anomaly time series, J. Geophys. Res., 10.1029/2005JD006169.
Free, M., J.K. Angell, I. Durre, J. Lanzante, T.C. Peterson and D.J. Seidel(2004), Using first differences to reduce inhomogeneity in radiosonde temperature datasets, J. Climate, 21, 4171-4179.
Fu, Q., C.M. Johanson, S.G. Warren, and D.J. Seidel, 2004: Contribution of stratospheric cooling to satellite-inferred tropospheric temperature trends. Nature, 429, 55-58.
Lanzante, J.R., S.A. Klein, and D.J. Seidel (2003a), Temporal homogenization of monthly radiosonde temperature data. Part I: Methodology, J. Climate, 16, 224-240.
Lanzante, J.R., S.A. Klein, and D.J. Seidel (2003b), Temporal homogenization of monthly radiosonde temperature data. Part II: trends, sensitivities, and MSU comparison, J. Climate, 16, 241 262.
Mears, Carl A., M.C. Schabel, F.J. Wentz, 2003: A Reanalysis of the MSU Channel 2 tropospheric Temperature Record. J. Clim, 16, 3650-3664.
