Global Animation of Cumulative Temperature Trend 2002-2022

This animation shows the ‘cumulative temperature trend’ defined as the trend in the AIRS monthly temperature anomaly that would be calculated from the beginning of the mission up to the point in time identified in the legend. The temperature anomaly is the difference in temperature for any given month from the mean temperature for all months in the entire time period. At the start of the mission, we do not have enough data to compute a meaningful trend, so the cumulative trend starts out chaotic like the temperature anomaly. As time goes on, the presence of more data stabilizes the trend to the point at the end of the animation where the variability subsides and a clear trend is visible. The visualization was produced using the CLIMCAPS-Aqua Level 3 air_temp product at vertical level 94, or 931 mb. Validation of trends seen in the AIRS data is an on-going process and results shown in this visualization are preliminary.