CLIMATE-CHANGE RECORD IN SUBSURFACE TEMPERATURES - A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Analyses of underground temperature measurements from 358 boreholes in eastern North America, central Europe, southern Africa, and Australia indicate that, in the 20th century, the average surface temperature o f Earth has increased by about 0.5 degrees C and that the 20th century has been the warmest of the past five centuries. The subsurface tempe ratures also indicate that Earth's mean surface temperature has increa sed by about 1.0 degrees C over the past five centuries. The geotherma l data offer an independent confirmation of the unusual character of 2 0th-century climate that has emerged from recent multiproxy studies.