Highest temperature recorded on Earth: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
mNo edit summary
Bolded the nearest analogue to the page title
Line 1: Line 1:
The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air, 1.5 meters above the ground, and shielded from direct sunlight.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mildrexler | first1 = David J. | last2 = Zhao | first2 = Maosheng | last3 = Running | first3 = Steven W. | title = Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth | url = http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1 | journal = Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | volume = 2011 | pages = 855–860 | doi = 10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1 | bibcode = 2011BAMS...92..855M }}</ref> According to the [[World Meteorological Organization]] (WMO), the highest confirmed air temperature on Earth recorded according to these measures was {{convert|56.7|C|F}} in [[Furnace Creek Ranch]], [[California]], located in the [[Death Valley]] desert in the [[United States]], on July 10, 1913.<ref name="WMO-Highest">[http://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-highest-temperature World: Highest Temperature] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714144146/https://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-highest-temperature|date=2017-07-14 }} [[World Meteorological Organization]] Retrieved 2 January 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020927021958/http://www0.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html |dead-url=yes |archive-date=27 September 2002 |title=NCDC Global measured extremes |accessdate=6 November 2007 }}</ref>
The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air, 1.5 meters above the ground, and shielded from direct sunlight.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mildrexler | first1 = David J. | last2 = Zhao | first2 = Maosheng | last3 = Running | first3 = Steven W. | title = Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth | url = http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1 | journal = Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | volume = 2011 | pages = 855–860 | doi = 10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1 | bibcode = 2011BAMS...92..855M }}</ref> According to the [[World Meteorological Organization]] (WMO), the '''highest confirmed air temperature on Earth''' recorded according to these measures was {{convert|56.7|C|F}} in [[Furnace Creek Ranch]], [[California]], located in the [[Death Valley]] desert in the [[United States]], on July 10, 1913.<ref name="WMO-Highest">[http://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-highest-temperature World: Highest Temperature] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714144146/https://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-highest-temperature|date=2017-07-14 }} [[World Meteorological Organization]] Retrieved 2 January 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020927021958/http://www0.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html |dead-url=yes |archive-date=27 September 2002 |title=NCDC Global measured extremes |accessdate=6 November 2007 }}</ref>


From 1922 until 2012, the WMO record for the highest official temperature on Earth was {{convert|57.8|C|F}}, registered on 13 September 1922 in [[‘Aziziya]], [[Libya]]. In January 2012, the WMO decertified the 1922 record, citing persuasive evidence that it was a faulty reading recorded in error by an inexperienced observer. <ref name="WMO-Highest" /> Christopher C. Burt, the weather historian writing for [[Weather Underground (weather service)|Weather Underground]] who shepherded the Libya reading's 2012 disqualification, believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is also "a myth", and is at least four or five degrees Fahrenheit too high,<ref name="KPBS-report">{{cite web |url=http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/jul/15/doubts-cloud-death-valleys-100-year-heat-record/ |title=Doubts Cloud Death Valley's 100-year Heat Record|accessdate=30 December 2013}}</ref> as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://stormbruiser.com/chase/2013/08/29/death-valleys-134f-record-temperature-study-part-one/ |title=Death Valley's 134F Record Temperature Study Part One |accessdate=30 December 2013}}</ref> If the 1913 record were to be decertified, the current highest recorded temperature on Earth would be {{convert|54.0|C|F}}, recorded both in Death Valley on 20 June 2013, and in [[Mitribah]], [[Kuwait]] on 21 July 2016.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Samenow|first1=Jason|title=New analysis shreds claim that Death Valley recorded Earth’s highest temperature in 1913|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/10/25/new-analysis-shreds-claim-that-death-valley-recorded-earths-hottest-temperature-in-1913/|accessdate=2 January 2018|work=The Washington Post|date=October 25, 2016}}</ref>
From 1922 until 2012, the WMO record for the highest official temperature on Earth was {{convert|57.8|C|F}}, registered on 13 September 1922 in [[‘Aziziya]], [[Libya]]. In January 2012, the WMO decertified the 1922 record, citing persuasive evidence that it was a faulty reading recorded in error by an inexperienced observer. <ref name="WMO-Highest" /> Christopher C. Burt, the weather historian writing for [[Weather Underground (weather service)|Weather Underground]] who shepherded the Libya reading's 2012 disqualification, believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is also "a myth", and is at least four or five degrees Fahrenheit too high,<ref name="KPBS-report">{{cite web |url=http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/jul/15/doubts-cloud-death-valleys-100-year-heat-record/ |title=Doubts Cloud Death Valley's 100-year Heat Record|accessdate=30 December 2013}}</ref> as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://stormbruiser.com/chase/2013/08/29/death-valleys-134f-record-temperature-study-part-one/ |title=Death Valley's 134F Record Temperature Study Part One |accessdate=30 December 2013}}</ref> If the 1913 record were to be decertified, the current highest recorded temperature on Earth would be {{convert|54.0|C|F}}, recorded both in Death Valley on 20 June 2013, and in [[Mitribah]], [[Kuwait]] on 21 July 2016.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Samenow|first1=Jason|title=New analysis shreds claim that Death Valley recorded Earth’s highest temperature in 1913|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/10/25/new-analysis-shreds-claim-that-death-valley-recorded-earths-hottest-temperature-in-1913/|accessdate=2 January 2018|work=The Washington Post|date=October 25, 2016}}</ref>

Revision as of 21:02, 22 June 2018

The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air, 1.5 meters above the ground, and shielded from direct sunlight.[1] According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the highest confirmed air temperature on Earth recorded according to these measures was 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) in Furnace Creek Ranch, California, located in the Death Valley desert in the United States, on July 10, 1913.[2][3]

From 1922 until 2012, the WMO record for the highest official temperature on Earth was 57.8 °C (136.0 °F), registered on 13 September 1922 in ‘Aziziya, Libya. In January 2012, the WMO decertified the 1922 record, citing persuasive evidence that it was a faulty reading recorded in error by an inexperienced observer. [2] Christopher C. Burt, the weather historian writing for Weather Underground who shepherded the Libya reading's 2012 disqualification, believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is also "a myth", and is at least four or five degrees Fahrenheit too high,[4] as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid.[5] If the 1913 record were to be decertified, the current highest recorded temperature on Earth would be 54.0 °C (129.2 °F), recorded both in Death Valley on 20 June 2013, and in Mitribah, Kuwait on 21 July 2016.[6]

At 41.80 °C (107.24 °F), July 2017 in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, was the hottest single month (average monthly temperature) ever reliably measured anywhere on Earth since records began in 1911.[7]

Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by 30 to 50 °C.[8] A ground temperature of 84 °C (183.2 °F) has been recorded in Port Sudan, Sudan.[9] A ground temperature of 93.9 °C (201 °F) was recorded also in Furnace Creek Ranch on 15 July 1972; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded.[10] The theoretical maximum possible ground surface temperature has been estimated to be between 90 and 100 °C (between 194 and 212 °F) for dry, darkish soils of low thermal conductivity.[11]

Temperature measurements via satellite also tend to capture occurrence of higher records but, due to complications involving satellite's altitude loss (a side effect of atmospheric friction), these measurements are often considered less reliable than ground-positioned thermometers.[12]

There is a satellite record of 66.8 °C (152.2 °F) measured in the Flaming Mountains of China in 2008.[13] Other satellite measurements of ground temperature taken between 2003 and 2009, taken with the MODIS infrared spectroradiometer on the Aqua satellite, found a maximum temperature of 70.7 °C (159.3 °F), which was recorded in 2005 in the Lut Desert, Iran. The Lut Desert was also found to have the highest maximum temperature in 5 of the 7 years measured (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009). These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature.[8]

References

  1. ^ Mildrexler, David J.; Zhao, Maosheng; Running, Steven W. "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 2011: 855–860. Bibcode:2011BAMS...92..855M. doi:10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1.
  2. ^ a b World: Highest Temperature Archived 2017-07-14 at the Wayback Machine World Meteorological Organization Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. ^ "NCDC Global measured extremes". Archived from the original on 27 September 2002. Retrieved 6 November 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Doubts Cloud Death Valley's 100-year Heat Record". Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  5. ^ "Death Valley's 134F Record Temperature Study Part One". Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  6. ^ Samenow, Jason (October 25, 2016). "New analysis shreds claim that Death Valley recorded Earth's highest temperature in 1913". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  7. ^ Christopher C. Burt (August 6, 2017). "Death Valley Sets New Global Record for Hottest Single Month". Weather Underground. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Mildrexler, David J.; Zhao, Maosheng; Running, Steven W. "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 2011: 855–860 [855–857]. doi:10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1.
  9. ^ Table 9.2, p. 158, Dryland Climatology, Sharon E. Nicholson, Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 1139500244.
  10. ^ A possible world record maximum natural ground surface temperature, Paul Kubecka, Weather, 56, #7 (July 2001), Weather, pp. 218-221, doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.2001.tb06577.x.
  11. ^ Extreme Maximum Land Surface Temperatures, J. R. Garratt, Journal of Applied Meteorology, 31, #9 (September 1992), pp. 1096–1105, doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1992)031<1096:EMLST>2.0.CO;2
  12. ^ "How accurate are satellite measured temperatures of the troposphere?". AccuWeather. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 92: 855–860. July 2011. doi:10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1. Retrieved 20 October 2014.

See also