Asheville News

2008 was eighth warmest on Earth

Jason Sandford January 15, 2009

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

The year 2008 tied with 2001 as the eighth warmest year on record for the Earth, based on the combined average of worldwide land and ocean surface temperatures through December, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. For December alone, the month also ranked as the eighth warmest globally, for the combined land and ocean surface temperature. The assessment is based on records dating back to 1880.

The analyses in NCDC’s global reports are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision. Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC’s processing algorithms.

NCDC’s ranking of 2008 as the eighth warmest year compares to a ranking of ninth warmest based on an analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The NOAA and NASA analyses differ slightly in methodology, but both use data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center – the federal government’s official source for climate data.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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1 Comment

Dean January 16, 2009

I worked in Antarctica for 12 years. South Pole, McMurdo, Palmer Station, Nathaniel B. Palmer Icebreaker/Research Vessel.

Many of the PHds I worked with were climatologist. Almost every one, man or woman, referred to Antarctica as the "canary in the coal mine" for the planet.

I can assure you, Antarctica is melting. A glacier we used to ski and play on during off hours at Palmer Station that stretched oh, from say Biltmore Forest to Hendersonville is gone. Something that had been around for thousands of years gone in less that 5 years. Grass is growing where there once was only ice.

10 years ago I asked one, from The University of Tennessee what Global Climate Change was really about. He said, essentially …you’ll see very erratic weather, hotter temperatures, colder colds, bigger hurricanes and floods, etc. for the next 100 years or so, then you’ll see some long range patterns…"

I decided then and there to just enjoy the show. What the hell? I’ll live simply, try to cope with weather as it comes, and just "be".

I’m also not having kids.

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