Global Temperature
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences
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Provided by NASA
What it is
- This site shows NASA's most up-to-date calculation of the global temperature anomaly relative to the average global temperature between 1951-1980.
- Users can see the current calculated temperature difference, an interactive graph of the differences from 1880 to the present, and a color-coded map showing temperature differences over time.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This is a great site for letting students interact with primary source data to draw conclusions.
Additional Prerequisites
- The data can be downloaded.
- Teachers will need to ensure students understand what a global temperature anomaly is and how it is calculated.
- Remember that temperature anomalies must compare to a baseline. The baseline here uses the average temperature from 1951 to 1980. So the temperature increase does not represent all Anthropogenic global warming since before the Industrial Revolution. The planet has heated up more than what is displayed here.
Differentiation
- Students can explore this webpage individually or with a small group and share some noticings and wonderings about the data.
- This can be used as a hook for a lesson or unit on climate change.
- Other graphical representations for the temperature anomaly can be found here and in this video.
- For students to create their own graphs and analysis of temperature data, check out this lesson on global temperatures and this one on regional temperatures.
From the scientist review
There is no contradiction in the resource. This resource is recommended.
How we review resourcesReady to use it?
Hosted on climate.nasa.gov
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