RSS Satellite data for Jan08: 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years

UPDATE - see new graph of global ∆T for the past year below. There has been a global drop in temperature of 0.63 degrees Centigrade in the past 12 months.

Of course we already have had a heads up from all the wire reports around the world talking about the significant winter weather events that have occurred worldwide in the last month, but until now, there hasn’t been a measure of how the planet was doing for the winter of 2007/2008.

Remote Sensing Systems of Santa Rosa just posted the latest MSU (Microwave Sounder Unit) data.

January posted a -.08°C near global anomaly between -70S and 82.5N latitude (the viewshed of the satellite sounder). That makes it the coldest month since January 2000, and the 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years. Both northern and southern hemispheres posted negative anomalies of -.120°C and -.038°C respectively, happening for the first time since January 2000.

The United States posted a -.557°C anomaly for January 2008 and a -0.196°C anomaly for December 2007.

Here is the raw anomaly data for January 2008

Year	Month	-70.0/  82.5	-20.0/  20.0	20.0/  82.5	-70.0/  -20.0	60.0/  82.5	-70.0/  -60.0	CONUS	0.0/  82.5	-70.0/  0.0
2008	1	-0.080	-0.188	-0.063	0.025	0.288	-0.833	-0.557	-0.120	-0.038

Which can be viewed in its entirety here (.txt data, RSS Data Version 3.1)

Here is my plot of the raw, unedited Global anomaly data (-70S to 82.5N) supplied by RSS per month. Note that the anomaly trend between late 2007 and early 2008 is quite steep and that the period leading  up to 2008 is relatively flat.

click for a larger image Note: RSS Data Version 3.1

UPDATE:

I decided to plot a magnified graph to show the global change in temperature over the last year from January 2007 to January 2008, the ∆T of -0.629°C is quite significant for a 12 month period, rivaled in the last 10 years only by the 1998 El Nino warming peak.

Click for a larger image Note: RSS Data Version 3.1

Probable cause- [Una] Niña muy grande. It looks like we may have a PDO shift as well. But as some say, trying to correlate such things is a “fools errand”. But, judge for yourself.

click for a larger image

We live in interesting times.
(h/t MattN)

Love those Tatas

Ok, the title is not what you think.

Recently Tata Motors of India announced they’d be offering a fuel efficient vehicle (50MPG)  priced at $2500 USD that almost any family in India could afford to buy and to operate.  Called the Tata Nano, it is seen as enabling people to move up from the lower ends of India’s transportation spectrum, where two-wheeled scooters selling for as little as $900 are often crammed with entire families.

The Nano’s closest competitor is the Maruti 800, a four-door selling for nearly twice as much.

In terms of performance, it doesn’t offer much more than the Ford Model T. The Nano has a two-cylinder 0.6-liter gasoline engine with 33 horsepower, giving it a top speed of about 60 mph, according to Tata Motors. It gets 50 miles per gallon. Tata claims that the car meets safety and environmental standards (such as Euro IV emissions compliance) which is as I understand it, pretty tough. In any case, the Nano is probably cleaner than the 2 cycle Vespa scooter or other small motorbikes currently all over India.

It is very low on use of raw materials, and it gets better mileage that the Toyota Prius (46MPG) yet environmentalists are having a bit of a cow about it.

Here is a recent blog posting from Sidartha Stone,  who grew up in India, but lives in Silicon Valley, and holds a Ph.D in mechanical engineering.

Here is an excerpt:

Car A gets a fuel efficiency of 46 miles per gallon. Car B gets about 50 miles per gallon. Car A is called the Toyota Prius and is hailed by environmentalists as a step towards solving global warming. Car B, a new car called the Tata Nano unveiled by an Indian company, is reviled by environmentalists as disastrous for global warming. The New York Times devotes an entire editorial condemning the Tata Nano. Columnist and author Tom Friedman calls for the Tata Nano to be “taxed like crazy.” The reason for this extreme criticism? The Tata Nano is cheap - very cheap. It is a revolutionary new car design that will cost only about $2,500 and will bring car ownership within reach of millions of new people in the developing world. The environmentalists’ hypocrisy is breathtaking.

This is not unlike that of the Duke of Wellington at the dawn of the railroad era, who criticized the railways on the grounds that “[They will] only encourage the common people to move about needlessly.”

This environmental angst over the Tata reminds me of this classic Far Side comic:

The best compliment I could be given…

From one of our commenters: 

“I really appreciate the sober tone and the reasonable level of discussion in this forum - highly unusual for a climate discussion, my sincere compliments.” - Loquor