Hockey stick graph (global temperature) in the context of "Ice hockey stick"

Play Trivia Questions online!

 or

Skip to study material about Hockey stick graph (global temperature) in the context of "Ice hockey stick"

⭐ Core Definition: Hockey stick graph (global temperature)

Hockey stick graphs present the global or hemispherical mean temperature record of the past 500 to 2000 years as shown by quantitative climate reconstructions based on climate proxy records. These reconstructions have consistently shown a slow long term cooling trend changing into relatively rapid warming in the 20th century, with the instrumental temperature record by 2000 exceeding earlier temperatures.

The term hockey stick graph was popularized by the climatologist Jerry Mahlman, to describe the pattern shown by the Mann, Bradley & Hughes 1999 (MBH99) reconstruction, envisaging a graph that is relatively flat with a downward trend to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick's "shaft" followed by a sharp, steady increase corresponding to the "blade" portion. The reconstructions have featured in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports as evidence of global warming. Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science.

↓ Menu

In this Dossier

Hockey stick graph (global temperature) in the context of IPCC Third Assessment Report

The IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR), Climate Change 2001, is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC. Statements of the IPCC or information from the TAR were often used as a reference showing a scientific consensus on the subject of global warming. The Third Assessment Report (TAR) was completed in 2001 and consists of four reports, three of them from its Working Groups: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis; Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; Working Group III: Mitigation; Synthesis Report. A number of the TAR's conclusions are given quantitative estimates of how probable it is that they are correct, e.g., greater than 66% probability of being correct. These are "Bayesian" probabilities, which are based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence.

"Robust findings" of the Synthesis Report include:

↑ Return to Menu
LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← IPCC Third Assessment Report
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
HadCRUT → Mean → Temperature record of the past 1000 years → Proxy (climate) → Instrumental temperature record → Jerry Mahlman → Ice hockey stick → Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change → Global warming →