Chapter 02 · Resources
Is the Climate Changing?
How global average temperature is calculated, what the record shows, and how short-term variability can mask a long-term trend.
State of the climate
How scientists measure global temperature
A nice explanation of how global average temperatures are calculated.
carbonbrief.org ↗
State of the Climate
Every year, NOAA puts out a summary of climate statistics and figures. You can see the latest one here.
ametsoc.org ↗
Primer on climate data
If you're interested in looking at data yourself, NOAA also has a primer on climate data.
climate.gov ↗
Check out NOAA's climate explorer and climate at a glance web pages to see what the climate in your area (or any area) looks like.
Calculate the trend yourself
Temperature trend calculator
SkepticalScience has a nice web page where you can do your own temperature trend calculation. If your friend tells you the Earth is not warming, tell them to check it out for themselves.
skepticalscience.com ↗
Another neat way to visualize the climate is to look at maps of temperature anomalies. NOAA has a cool website where you can do that.
Short-term variability
Understanding how short-term climate variability can mask long-term climate change is an important concept.
Paleoclimate variations
How proxy data reveals the climate of Earth’s distant past
This CarbonBrief article summarizes what paleoclimate data tell us about our climatic past.
interactive.carbonbrief.org ↗
The Eocene and the PETM
A detailed summary of what the warmth of the Eocene and the abrupt warming of the PETM can tell us — a great review paper by Richard Alley. [paywall]
sciencemag.org ↗
The scariest climate plot in the world
On Dessler’s substack.
theclimatebrink.com ↗