Early-twentieth-century cold bias in ocean surface temperature observations.

ABSTRACT: The observed temperature record, which combines sea surface temperatures with near-surface air temperatures over land, is crucial for understanding climate variability and change^1-4. However, early records of global mean surface temperature are uncertain owing to changes in measurement technology and practice, partial documentation^5-8, and incomplete spatial coverage⁹. Here we show that existing estimates of ocean temperatures in the early twentieth century (1900-1930) are too cold, based on independent statistical reconstructions of the global mean surface temperature from either ocean or land data. The ocean-based reconstruction is on average about 0.26 °C colder than the land-based one, despite very high agreement in all other periods. The ocean cold ano

SUBMITTER: Sippel S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11578896 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature