Fig. 2

Timescales of variability for global average annual precipitation (a, mm) and temperature (b, °C) anomalies. Raw annual averages are shown in black, fitted decadal cycles in green and the long-term trend in red. In (a), the horizonal blue lines show the 10-year average precipitation anomalies from 1900–1910 and 1980–1990 (see text). The portion of total variance (%) in precipitation (c) and temperature (d) explained by the long-term trend is shown spatially in the bottom two panels. See Greene et al. [83] or http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/maproom/Global/Time_Scales/index.html for the methodology and data