We provide temperature and anomaly data alongside Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global land temperature anomalies against the 1961 to 1990, and 1991 to 2020 baseline periods.
Global average temperatures have increased by around 1 degree Celsius in the last century, almost certainly a result of high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases emitted from human activities. While this change may seem small, relatively small changes in our climate can have big effects on our environment (Ministry for the Environment [MfE] & Stats NZ, 2019).
Temperature change can have a significant effect on agriculture, energy demand, ecosystems, and recreation. Climate change projections for New Zealand suggest the greatest warming will be in summer/autumn and the least in winter and spring (MfE, 2018).
Temperature is also influenced by natural processes such as climate oscillations like the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, ENSO does not affect the long-term warming trend of the national temperature time series (World Meteorological Organization [WMO], 2014).
Variables:
year: Year.
temperature: Temperature in degrees Celsius.
data_released: Year the data was released.
source: Source of data.
anomaly: Anomaly against the average temperature of a given reference period.
reference_period: Reference period.
References:
Ministry for the Environment. (2018). Climate Change Projections for New Zealand: Atmosphere Projections Based on Simulations from the IPCC Fifth Assessment, 2nd Edition (Publication No. ME 1385). https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/climate-change/climate-change-projections-new-zealand
Ministry for the Environment & Stats NZ. (2019). New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series: Environment Aotearoa 2019 (Publication No. ME 1416). https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporting/environment-aotearoa-2019
World Meteorological Organization. (2014). El Niño/Southern Oscillation. WMO. (WMO-No. 1145). https://library.wmo.int/records/item/53800-el-nino-southern-oscillation
