2008 Annual Mean Temperature Remained High in Japan and Worldwide

Annual mean temperature anomalies 2008
Copyright Japan Meteorological Agency

The Japan Meteorological Agency released the 2008 statistics on annual mean temperature for Japan and worldwide on February 3, 2009. According to the data, the annual anomaly of the global surface temperature was 0.20 degrees Celsius above normal, as compared with the 1971-2000 long-term average. This was the tenth highest figure since 1891, when statistics started. In addition, Japan's annual mean temperature rose by 0.46 degrees Celsius compared with normal, the eleventh highest record in the same period since 1898, when the statistics started.

On a long-term basis, the world's annual mean temperature has been rising at a rate of 0.67 degrees Celsius per hundred years, and Japan's has been rising at a rate of 1.11 degrees Celsius. Particularly since 1990's, higher temperatures have been frequently recorded. The world's annual mean temperatures from top to twelfth have been high since the 1990s, and Japan has also recorded high temperatures from top to twelfth (except ninth) after 1990.

The agency attributed the recent warm years, which have been frequently observed in Japan and worldwide, to global warming caused by the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, together with natural variations that occur in cycles ranging from a few years to multiple decades. La Nina events that arose from the spring of 2007 to the spring of 2008 might also be a factor in the lower 2008 mean temperature, as compared to several of the preceding years.

2007 Mean Temperatures Hit Record Highs in Japan and the World (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/027045.html
Global Average Surface Temperature Anomalies
http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/
temp/ann_wld.html
Tokyo Climate Center, JMA official website
http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/index.html

Posted: 2009/05/23 06:00:15 AM