World Cities Ground Temperature Analysis using Tableau

Is the Temperature of World Cities Increasing?

We have heard about Climate Change and Global Warming. Non believers say that Climate change is a hoax and that it is only a phase that has happened before througout the history of the planet and that it will fix itself. They claim that Global Warming is a fabrication of those against capitalism and thus it only serves their political agenda. They believe that the planet is not really warming up as winters are cold and snow still falls. Believers say that Global warming is man caused and that the effects of climate change are already here and that if we do nothing to reduce our carbon emissions and change or lifestyles, the planet will enter an irreversible era of doom.

Lets take as an example, a set of publications written in the late nineties in the prestigious and influential peer-reviewed British Medical Journal (BMJ) that addressed the subject of climate change.

Richard Smith, BMJ editor, wrote an article titled "Climate change: decision time in Kyoto - Doctors must lead from the front in the fight against global warning".

Mankind faces a crucial test in Kyoto next month, and we look set to fail. The test will come at the third meeting of governments trying to commit to reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases to counter global warming. Virtually all scientists agree that global warming is happening, and most think that the consequences will be dire. Some small island states will disappear, food shortages in Africa will be worsened, and vector borne diseases will spread.1 2 To counter the problem those in the rich world must reduce their energy consumption, and doctors can lead from the front—just as we did when we came to understand the evidence of the harmful effects of smoking. But this time it’s harder. The rich, particularly the Americans, have hugely higher energy consumption than the poor, and the energy consumption of some of the poor will have to increase for them to move out of absolute poverty. If the rich cannot reduce their energy consumption appreciably then nothing will happen to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It is hard for political leaders to agree to make the reductions because many vested interests oppose reductions, because we find it hard to make short term sacrifices for long term benefit, and because many people do not grasp the scale of the problem (some in Britain are attracted by “southern England becoming like Provence”). But doctors can understand. And we can change the world by speaking up and acting—together and individually—internationally, nationally, and locally and by changing our own lifestyles. Because that is what it means. We must use our cars less or not at all, insulate our houses, forego air conditioning, and make a hundred minor changes in our lives. None of this will be easy because we are addicted to energy, individually and as communities and nations. But if we can’t find a way to change then our descendants will pay an awful price.

This article can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2127842/

In response to Smith's article, Gregory Gardner, Locum general practitioner, wrote: "Many climate change scientists do not agree that global warming is happening".

In the article, he states:

The apocalyptic tone that Smith adopted in relation to the environment bears little relation to reality. In his editorial Smith asserts, “virtually all scientists agree that global warming is happening.” Global warming is now joining the list of “what everyone knows.”

Whether most scientists outside climatology believe that global warming is happening is less relevant than whether the climatologists do. A letter signed by over 50 leading members of the American Meteorological Society warned about the policies promoted by environmental pressure groups. “The policy initiatives derive from highly uncertain scientific theories. They are based on the unsupported assumption that catastrophic global warming follows from the burning of fossil fuel and requires immediate action. We do not agree.” Those who have signed the letter represent the overwhelming majority of climate change scientists in the United States, of whom there are about 60. McMichael and Haines quote the 1995 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is widely believed to “prove” that climate change induced by humans has occurred. The original draft document did not say this. What happened was that the policymakers’ summary (which became the “take home message” for politicians) altered the conclusions of the scientists. This led Dr Frederick Seitz, former head of the United States National Academy of Sciences, to write, “In more than sixty years as a member of the American scientific community ... I have never witnessed a more disturbing corruption of the peer-review process than the events that led to this IPCC report.”

Policymaking should be guided by proved fact, not speculation. Most members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believe that current climate models do not accurately portray the atmosphere-ocean system. Measurements made by means of satellites show no global warming but a cooling of 0.13°C between 1979 and 1994.5 Furthermore, since the theory of global warming assumes maximum warming at the poles, why have average temperatures in the Arctic dropped by 0.88°C over the past 50 years?

The article can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1112950/

Forward 15 years, and NASA writes "The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible for people alive today, and will worsen as long as humans add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere."

We already see effects scientists predicted, such as the loss of sea ice, melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea level rise, and more intense heat waves. Scientists predict global temperature increases from human-made greenhouse gases will continue. Severe weather damage will also increase and intensify.

Global climate change is not a future problem. Changes to Earth’s climate driven by increased human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are already having widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner.

Effects that scientists had long predicted would result from global climate change are now occurring, such as sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves. "The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming."

This article can be found here: https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/#:~:text=Earth%20Will%20Continue%20to%20Warm,and%20rainfall%20from%20tropical%20cyclones.

One of the effects of global warming is the increase of temperature of cities.

Wired Magazine: "Climate Change Is Turning Cities Into Ovens A new model estimates that by 2100, cities across the world could warm as much as 4.4 degrees Celsius. It’s a deadly consequence of the heat-island effect.", article can be found here: https://www.wired.com/story/climate-change-is-turning-cities-into-ovens/

Euronews: "Climate change: Cities can be subjected to twice as much temperature increase so what can be done?" https://www.euronews.com/2023/05/04/climate-change-cities-can-be-subjected-to-twice-as-much-temperature-increase-so-what-can-b#:~:text=Cities%20are%20at%20the%20highest,temperature%20increase%20as%20other%20areas.

Bloomberg: " Waves crash into sea walls in coastal town in south-west England, during severe weather and flood crisis. Source: BBC Editorial Whatever Climate Change Does to the World, Cities Will Be Hit Hardest" https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-cities-climate-victims/?embedded-checkout=true

Scientific American: "Urban Heat Islands Mean Warming Will Be Worse in Cities" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/urban-heat-islands-mean-warming-will-be-worse-in-cities/

So is the temperature of the world cities increasing? What is the trend of the temperature change of world cities? We are going to answer these questions by analyzing data taken from 1995 until 2019.