2,000 years of Earth's climate in one simple chart
What were global temperatures the year Jesus was born, during the 12th century when Genghis Khan ruled the Mongol Empire, and in 1503 when Leonardo da Vinci started painting the Mona Lisa — and how do they compare with temperatures in our modern world? There's now a chart for that.
The new visualization peers backwards for 2,000-plus years to estimate, year by year, what average global temperatures were like.
In the image, each line represents a year from 0 to 2019, with blue hues indicating temperatures below the 20th century average and red colors illustrating years when temperatures were above that level.
The shocking red spike as you approach the end of the timeline is a result of the rapid warming that's taken place in recent years.
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