Climate4you - March 2026 Global Surface Air Temperature Overview

Oct 29, 2026

Upload by Liam

March 2026 Climate4you newsletter presents an overview of global climate indicators using graphs and diagrams updated to the most recent past month. It explains context for interpreting surface air temperature, contrasting traditional 30-year “normal” periods with a decadal reference approach. The report summarizes temperature anomalies across multiple datasets (e.g., GISS, NCDC, UAH, AIRS) and quality classes, and links atmospheric CO2 variations and ENSO episodes to observed temperature behavior. Additional sections address ocean heat, sea level, sea ice, humidity, precipitation, and related climate factors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages69

Reading Time2 h 54 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

March 2026 global surface air temperature overview

Global air temperature trends

Global ocean temperature and heat content

ENSO episodes and Oceanic Niño Index

Sea level, sea ice, and snow cover

Atmospheric humidity, precipitation, and CO2

Sunspot activity and links to temperature

1 2 Contents: Page 3: March 2026 global surface air temperature overview Page 4: March 2026 global surface air temperature overview versus March last 10 years Page 5: March 2026 global surface air temperature compared to March 2025 Page 6: Temperature quality class 1: Lower troposphere temperature from satellites Page 7: Temperature quality class 2: HadCRUT global surface air temperature Page 8: Temperature quality class 3: GISS and NCDC global surface air temperature Page 11: Comparing global surface air temperature and satellite-based temperature Page 12: Global air temperature linear trends Page 13: Global temperatures: All in one, Quality Class 1, 2 and 3 Page 15: Global sea surface temperature Page 18: Ocean temperature in uppermost 100 m Page 20: Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) Page 21: North Atlantic heat content uppermost 700 m Page 22: North Atlantic temperatures 0-800 m depth along 59N, 30-0W Page 23: Global ocean temperature 0-1900 m depth summary Page 24: Global ocean net temperature change since 2004 at different depths Page 25: La Niña and El Niño episodes, Oceanic Niño Index Page 26: Zonal lower troposphere temperatures from satellites Page 27: Arctic and Antarctic lower troposphere temperatures from satellites Page 28: Arctic and Antarctic surface air temperatures Page 31: Long Arctic annual surface air temperature series Page 32: Long Antarctic annual surface air temperature series Page 33: Temperature over land versus over oceans Page 34: Troposphere and stratosphere temperatures from satellites Page 35: Sea ice; Arctic and Antarctic Page 39: Sea level in general Page 40: Global sea level from satellite altimetry Page 41: Global sea level from tide gauges (extended Holgate-9) Page 42: This month’s selected sea level station (tide gauge) : Maldives, Indian Ocean Page 44: Snow cover; Northern Hemisphere weekly and seasonal Page 46: Greenland Ice Sheet net surface mass balance Page 47: Atmospheric relative and specific humidity Page 49: Precipitation, global and regional Page 54: Atmospheric CO2 Page 55: Relation between annual change of atm. CO2 and La Niña and El Niño episodes Page 56: Phase relation between atmospheric CO2 and global temperature Page 57: Global air temperature and atmospheric CO2 Page 61: Latest 20-year QC1 global monthly air temperature change Page 62: Sunspot activity and QC1 average satellite global air temperature Page 63: Sunspot activity and average neutron counts Page 64: Sunspot activity, ONI, and change rates of atmospheric CO2 and specific humidity Page 65: Monthly lower troposphere temperature and global cloud cover Page 66: Climate and history: 1788: The concept of deep time-James Hutton visits Siccar Point 3 March 2026 global surface air temperature overview General: This newsletter contains graphs and diagrams showing a selection of key meteorological variables, updated to the most recent past month, if possible. All temperatures are given in degrees Celsius. The global climate system represents a highly complex system, involving sun, planets, atmosphere, oceans, land, geological processes, biological life, and complex interactions between them. Many components and their mutual coupling are still not fully understood or perhaps not even recognised. Among all these factors, human CO2 emissions have in all probability contributed only a little to the current warming. The global climate has remained in a quasi-stable condition within certain limits for millions of years, although with important variations playing out over periods ranging from years to centuries, or more, but the global climate has never been in a fully stable state without change. Modern observations show that this normal behaviour is also characterizing recent years, and there is no observational evidence for any global climate crisis. Traditionally, a 30-year reference period is often used by various meteorological

FAQs

Why does the report criticize the traditional 30-year reference period for climate comparison?

It argues that many global climate parameters show periodic variations on 50–70 year timescales, making the 30-year period an unstable reference. A decadal reference (the last 10 years) is used instead in the shown temperature anomaly maps.

How are March 2026 temperature anomalies compared across different data sources?

The summary states that GISS portal data (AIRS interpolated satellite-based surface air data) and GISS/NCDC surface records show March 2026 anomalies higher than the previous month, while UAH lower troposphere satellites are nearly unchanged. AIRS v6 March 2026 is also said to be below the March average for the previous 10 years.

What other climate variables are covered besides surface air temperature?

The document’s contents list ocean surface and subsurface temperatures, PDO and North Atlantic heat content, ENSO episodes with ONI, sea level from satellites and tide gauges, sea ice and snow cover, atmospheric humidity and precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 with its phase relations to temperature.

Oct 29, 2026

Upload by Liam