Watching the Land Temperature Bell Curve Heat Up (1950-2020)
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by: NASA|Published on: April 27, 2021
Videos
Scientist Reviewed
6789101112
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This brief video is an animation of land temperature anomaly distributions through time from 1950 to 2020.
- Students will see that in the seventy-year period, hotter days have increased and colder days have decreased in regularity.

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Mathematics
Authors: NASA
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The data clearly displays an increase in warmer than normal temperatures on land over time.
- There is a link in the description to download the video and learn more about the methodology.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should know how to read a bell curve.
- Students should know the terms normal distribution and anomaly.
Differentiation
- Students can compare the data to this video on global warming data and this video on Greenland ice loss data.
- A lesson related to this topic is Is Your City Getting Warmer?: Data Analysis in Google Sheets.
- This other lesson can help students understand the differences between weather and climate.
- Students can also do this activity where they analyze air temperature graphs.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →




