Summary of Remarks: Each month NOAA provides an update of global and national temperature trends and anomalies. The results of these analyses have been used in IPCC and National Assessments to assess changes of temperature in the historical record. The methods and data used at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center to calculate the trends and anomalies will be discussed. This includes historical changes in data coverage, processing techniques, bias corrections, and assessments of uncertainty. When viewed with independent methods and data used by other agencies and governments to track temperature and temperature-related changes, the results have provided the basis for the statement "global warming is unequivocal."
Thomas Karl currently serves as director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., and interim director of NOAA's Climate Service. Karl is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and has recently completely his term as President. He is also a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and several books as Editor and Contributor. He has received many awards and recognition for his work in services and scientific contributions in climate-related work including: two Presidential Rank Awards, five Gold Medals from the Department of Commerce and two Bronze Medals; the American Meteorological Society's Suomi Award; National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences; the NOAA Administrator's Award, and several others. He has served as Editor of the Journal of Climate (1997-2000) and has been the Convening and Lead Author and Review Editor of all the major IPCC assessments since 1990, which were recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Co-Chair of the US National Assessment and the recent Global Climate Change Impacts in the US state of knowledge report and a number of other assessments produced by the US Climate Change Science Program. He has received a B.S. in Meteorology from Northern Illinois University, a M.S in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin, and a doctorate of humane letters (honoris causa) from North Carolina State University.
