Instrumental temperature record

Global surface temperature (GST) is the average temperature of Earth's surface at a given time. It is a combination of sea surface temperature and the near-surface air temperature over land, weighted by their respective areas. Temperature data comes mainly from weather stations and satellites.

To estimate data in the distant past, proxy data can be used for example from tree rings, corals, and ice cores.
Observing the rising GST over time is one of the many lines of evidence supporting the scientific consensus on climate change, which is that human activities are causing climate change.
Alternative terms for the same concept are global mean surface temperature (GMST) or global average surface temperature.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0