Jump to this Animation »
Five-Year Average Global Temperature Anomalies from 1881 to 2009
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003674/index.html

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This NASA animation of the Five-Year Average Global Temperature Anomalies from 1881 to 2009 shows how temperature anomalies have varied in the last 130 years. The color-coded map displays a long-term progression of changing global surface temperatures from 1881 to 2009. Dark red indicates the greatest warming and dark blue indicates the greatest cooling.

Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»


Grade Level

Topics

Climate Literacy

This Animation builds on the following concepts of Climate Literacy.

Click a topic below for supporting information, teaching ideas, and sample activities.

Notes From Our Reviewers The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials
Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy | Technical Details

Teaching Tips

  • Teacher may need to explain to students what "temperature anomaly" means. "Anomaly" is defined as the deviation of the global mean surface temperature from that for the base period. In this case the base period is the mean global temperature for 1951-1980.

About the Content

  • An authoritative and well-documented visualization of 130 years of global temperature anomalies.
  • The link to the data used to generate these images is broken.
  • This dataset ends in 2009. Further warming has taken place since then.
  • Comment from expert scientist: Very good animations of global temperature through time. The data are from respected scientists, and a respected/good dataset. It would be a good idea to include Fahrenheit temperatures for younger students.

About the Pedagogy

  • Animation clearly demonstrates how temperatures have changed in the last 130 years.
  • Associated explanation on the webpage help provide more background for both teachers and students.

Technical Details/Ease of Use

  • The animation can be downloaded in a variety of formats and resolutions.
  • Very clear, easy to understand graphics.
Entered the Collection: January 2013 Last Reviewed: November 2016

Jump to this Animation »