Image:Temperature versus Elevation.png

From Global Warming Art

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Description

Map of annually-average near-surface air temperatures.

Graph of temperature variation versus latitude.

This plot shows the variation in surface temperature as a function of the elevation of the Earth's surface relative to sea level, after removing the effects of varying latitude.

As surface elevation increases, temperature falls off by approximately 1 °C for every 220 m (1 °F per 400 feet), as indicated by the red line. This rate of change suggests the vertical distance that snow lines and ecological zones might shift in elevation as a result of global warming, provided sufficient local topography is available. For example, a 3 °C temperature change might be expected to produce a 660 m upward shift in snow lines (without considering any accompanying changes in precipitation and other factors).

This figure was created from analysis of the map at right. Gray regions indicate the first and second standard deviations. The large dip at 2500-3500 m is created by the Antarctic plateau which due to its large size and high albedo is colder than one might otherwise expect based solely on it's elevation and latitude.

Copyright

This image was created by Robert A. Rohde for Global Warming Art.

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