GISS April global down 0.02°C from March.

The GISS land/ocean temperature anomaly  fell 0.02°C last month. The April anomaly average was 0.86°C, down slightly from March 0.88°C. The GISS report notes that it is still the third warmest April in the record. The fall is very similar to the 0.016°C fall, of TempLS Mesh, although the NCEP/NCAR index showed a slight rise.

The overall pattern was similar to that in TempLS. Cold in most of N America, and contrasting warmth in Europe. Warm in East Asia, especially arctic Siberia. Polar regions variable. Warm in S America and Australia, and for at least the third month, a curious pattern of warm patches along about 40°S.

As usual here, I will compare the GISS and previous TempLS plots below the jump.

Here is GISS


And here is the TempLS spherical harmonics plot

This post is part of a series that has now run for six years. The GISS data completes the month cycle, and is compared with the TempLS result and map. GISS lists its reports here, and I post the monthly averages here.
The TempLS mesh data is reported here, and the recent history of monthly readings is here. Unadjusted GHCN is normally used, but if you click the TempLS button there, it will show data with adjusted, and also with different integration methods. There is an interactive graph using 1981-2010 base period here which you can use to show different periods, or compare with other indices. There is a general guide to TempLS here.

The reporting cycle starts with a report of the daily reanalysis index on about the 4th of the month. The next post is this, the TempLS report, usually about the 8th. Then when the GISS result comes out, usually about the 15th, I discuss it and compare with TempLS. The TempLS graph uses a spherical harmonics to the TempLS mesh residuals; the residuals are displayed more directly using a triangular grid in a better resolved WebGL plot here.

A list of earlier monthly reports of each series in date order is here:

1. NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis report
2. TempLS report
3. GISS report and comparison with TempLS