The warming of our Earth's surface since pre-industrial times
A visual introduction to the rising temperatures since 1850.
Scroll
The average temperature across the whole of the Earth's surface was a little over 15°C in 2023.
Looking back over the years we can see that the yearly average temperature was always around 14°C or 15°C. It changes very little compared to our daily weather.
Despite changes being small, it is clear that recent years are warmer than the previously. The average between 1850 and 1900 was 13.8°C.
When we talk about global warming we use that average between 1850 and 1900 as our pre-industrial baseline and we measure how much the Earth surface has warmed compared to that period.
To be more precise, this warming is observed warming or observed temperature anomaly. There is also human-induced warming, which is the warming that can be attributed to human activities. Human-induced warning should be used as the indicator to track our progress for the Paris Agreement, for more information see Climate Change Tracker.