Climate researchers at the University of East Anglia have for the first time made the world's temperature records available on the Google Earth platform.

 

The Climatic Research Unit Temperature Version 4 (CRUTEM4) land-surface air temperature dataset is one of the most widely used records of the climate system.

 

The new Google Earth format allows users to scroll around the world, zoom in on 6,000 weather stations, and view monthly, seasonal and annual temperature data more easily than ever before.

 

Users can drill down to see some 20,000 graphs — some of which show temperature records dating back to 1850.

 

The move is part of an ongoing effort to make data about past climate and climate change as accessible and transparent as possible.

 

The Google Earth interface shows how the globe has been split into 5 latitude and longitude grid boxes. The boxes are about 550km wide along the Equator, narrowing towards the North and South poles. This red and green checkerboard covers most of the Earth and indicates areas of land where station data are available. Clicking on a grid box reveals the area’s annual temperatures, as well as links to more detailed downloadable station data.

 

But while the new initiative does allow greater accessibility, the research team does expect to find errors.