Sensitivity of tropospheric and stratospheric temperature trends to radiosonde data quality

Abstract

The sensitivity of upper-air temperature trend estimates to radiosonde data quality issues is studied. The statistical method used to estimate the linear trends has a small influence on the results. Trends at individual stations and pressure levels differ in two independently-produced monthly mean temperature datasets. The differences are generally less than 0.1 K decade-1, but in a few cases, they are larger and statistically significant at 99% confidence level.