1992 Brings return to moderate global temperatures

Natural events, such as the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines and the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) episode in the tropical Pacific Ocean, had major impacts on the global climate in 1992. These phenomena were associated with a return to more moderate global temperatures during 1992 after several years of record or near‐record high temperatures. During the first part of the year, the 1991–1992 ENSO episode contributed to above normal temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, while cooling during the latter part of the year was associated with the aerosol cloud produced by the June 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. By the spring of 1992, the stratospheric aerosol cloud had extended from the tropics well into both hemispheres. In this report, global surface temperature anomalies are defined as departures from the 1961–1990 base period means. As the aerosol cloud spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere during a time of increasing solar radiation, the surface temperature anomalies responded by becoming less positive over much of the hemisphere. This relative cooling helped to make 1992 the coolest year since 1986. Temperatures also were dramatically cooler throughout the troposphere.