What drives global warming?

Color what drives the climate warmer or cooler

Data sources

Global Surface Temperature Anomalies: Monthly Global Land and Ocean. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Centers for Environmental Information. Accessed February 2017. This data contains:

• Annual global land and ocean (combined) temperature anomalies with respect to the 20th century average (1901-2000)
• Covers 1880 to 2016

ModelE CMIP5 Climate Simulations. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center, Goddard Institute for Space Studies. This data contains:

• Nine responses to climate forcings:
  • Human: Anthropogenic tropospheric aerosol, Greenhouse gases, Land use, Combined Human
  • Natural: Orbital changes, Ozone, Solar, Volcanic, Combined Natural
• Covers 1850 to 2005
• Measured in degrees Kelvin

How the data was used

• Both data sets were reduced to cover 1880-2005, the dates in which they overlap
• Both data sets were converted to degrees Fahrenheit
• A baseline was established for both datasets by calculating the 1880-1910 average values for temperature anomalies and combined forcings respectively
• Line graphs were plotted for:
  • Observed global temperature anomaly from 1880-1910 average
  • Orbital changes forcing temperature anomaly from 1880-1910 average
  • Solar temperature forcing temperature anomaly from 1880-1910 average
  • Volcanic forcing temperature anomaly from 1880-1910 average
  • Greenhous gas forcing temperature anomaly from 1880-1910 average

Code

A python script is available in the code repository to generate or extend this activity, and can be run like this:

python forcings.py

Which will create an svg file with the five line graphs as described above