Two days of Staten Island data insufficient to identify climate trends

The claim: The message implies that the temperature on Staten Island 14 years ago shows that humans are not causing climate change.

An Instagram post from April 7 (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be a screenshot of a social media post dated April 7, 2010. The screenshot indicates that the temperature that day -there was 85.3 degrees.

“14 years ago it was 93 degrees in #StatenIsland – today it's 55 degrees,” the post's caption read. “So why is it 40 degrees cooler today?”

The caption, which includes the hashtags “#globalwarming” and “#climatechange”, suggests that human behavior cannot cause global warming.

The post garnered more than 100 likes in less than a week.

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Our note: Missing context

The implied statement is false. Comparing temperatures in one location on two random days does not demonstrate whether global warming is occurring or not. Scientists have determined that human behavior is causing climate change after analyzing many types of data, including long-term trends in global temperatures.

Comparing temperatures on two random days is misleading

Maine state climatologist Sean Birkel previously told USA TODAY that analyzing long-term records is necessary to identify climate trends because temperature naturally varies from day to day due to weather conditions.

“Climate is measured from weather conditions – including temperature, precipitation, wind, etc. – which are averaged over several years or decades,” Birkel said in a separate interview. “From observations of near-surface temperatures measured around the world, scientists have discovered that the global climate is warmer today than it was a century ago.”

Fact check: How We Know Humans Are Causing Warming: A Brief History of Climate Science

New York State's average annual temperature has increased by three degrees since 1970, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Scott Stevens, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told USA TODAY that the agency does not have a temperature station on Staten Island and that the closest sensor is located at the airport in Newark, New Jersey. According to data from this station, the temperature on April 7, 2010 reached 92 degrees, while the maximum on the same day in 2024 was 61 degrees.

Multiple lines of evidence show that human activity is causing modern global warming

In addition to documenting long-term trends in atmospheric warming, researchers have documented ocean warming as well as the consequences of both types of warming, including:

Researchers know that global warming is caused by excess greenhouse gases emitted by human activity in several ways. First, scientists have shown that greenhouse gases, like CO2, slow the escape of heat into space.

They know that excess CO2 in the atmosphere comes from human activity, because it matches the amount released by humans (once other natural processes are taken into account) and because modern atmospheric CO2 contains a disproportionate amount of carbon found in fossil fuels. .

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The researchers were also able to verify that their understanding of greenhouse gases and Earth physics is accurate by successfully projecting greenhouse gas-induced warming before it occurs.

The Instagram user who shared the post told USA TODAY in an email that it reflected his opinion, but provided no evidence supporting the post's implication that Staten Island temperatures should be considered evidence against humans causing global warming.

Our fact-checking sources:

• Scott Stevens, April 24, email exchange with USA TODAY

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed April 26, Ocean Warming

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed April 26, Causes

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed April 26, ice caps

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed April 26, sea level

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed April 26, minimum extent of Arctic sea ice

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed April 26, Evidence

• NASA Earth Observatory, accessed April 26, World of Change: Global Temperatures

• Environmental Protection Agency, July 2022, Climate Change Indicators: Heat Waves

• NOAA, September 6, 2023, Climate change: heat content of the oceans

• NOAA, August 17, 2022, Climate Change: Spring Snow Cover in the Northern Hemisphere

• National Park Service, accessed April 26, How Wildlife Responds to Global Warming

• Joint Committee for Nature Conservation, accessed April 26, Climate change and migratory species: review of impacts, conservation actions, indicators and ecosystem services

• Science, August 19, 2011, Rapid changes in species ranges associated with high levels of global warming

• Ecology, February 10, 2021, Unusually large upward shifts in cold-adapted mountain mammals as temperatures warm

• USA TODAY, February 14, How We Know Humans Are Causing Warming: A Brief History of Climate Science | Fact Check

• USA TODAY, November 28, 2022, Fact check: Earth's warming is well documented, climate data from other planets is limited

• USA TODAY, September 21, 2023, Global warming occurs despite Death Valley temperature record of 1913 | Fact Check

• USA TODAY, May 16, 2023, April 1895 and April 2023, temperature comparison does not refute climate change | Fact Check

• USA TODAY, May 31, 2022, Fact check: Climate change measured in decades, common daily temperature fluctuation

• The Conversation, July 21, 2020, John Tyndall: the forgotten co-founder of climate science

• Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, accessed April 26, Understanding Climate Change

• NOAA, October 12, 2022, How do we know that the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is caused by humans?

• Carbon Brief, September 28, 2020, guest article: Oceans are absorbing more carbon than previously thought

• Carbon Brief, October 5, 2017, Analysis: To what extent have climate models projected global warming?

• The Harvard Gazette, January 12, 2023 Exxon has disputed climate findings for years. Its scientists knew better

• Science, January 13, 2023, Evaluating ExxonMobil's Global Warming Projections

• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, accessed April 26, Effects and Impacts of Climate Change

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, Staten Island data doesn't cancel out climate change | Fact Check