Land-surface temperature measurements are crucial for tracking changes in the climate while also helping to monitor heat stress in crops and urban environments.

By describing the skin temperature across Earth’s land surfaces, such as bare ground, vegetation, snow and ice, land-surface temperature data complement the near-surface air temperature records used to track global warming.

This animation shows changes in global land-surface temperature from 1995-2020 developed via ESA’s Climate Change Initiative.

It is the first climate record of land-surface temperature that uses both infrared and microwave sensors at a global scale. This greatly improves scientists’ ability to monitor climate change, including polar regions where climate change is happening very quickly.