August TempLS Global Temp up slightly (0.01°C) from July

The TempLS analysis, based on GHCNV3 land temperatures and the ERSST sea temps, showed a monthly average of 0.48°C for August, up from 0.47 °C in July. After a rapid rise to April this year, TempLS has been steady, with a small downward drift. There are more details at the latest temperature data page.

Below is the graph (lat/lon) of temperature distribution for August 2012. I've also included a count and map of the stations that have reported to this date, and a survey of the degree of error caused by my customary early reporting.




This spherical harmonics plot is done with the GISS colors and temperature intervals, and as usual I'll post a comparison when GISS comes out.

And here, from the data page, is the plot of the major indices for the last four months:


Here is the map of "stations" which contributed to this report. Over half are SST readings from the ERSST grid, and generally all of these are available (subject to modification) from the start of the month. But numerous land stations haven't reported. There are a total of 4195; past months with more complete reporting have about 4500.



I was curious to test the effect of incomplete data. I report earlier, and with less complete info, than the majors. This is partly to be first, but also so the calculation is a real test of TempLS's ability to independently assess the average. But I was curious to see what the penalty was. It isn't much. Here is a table of the difference between the originally posted monthly averages for 2012 and the current values, including the extra data that has come in since.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
0.018	0.009	0.028	0.000	-0.005	0.005	-0.003