The 2005 Jan -
Sep land data (which is adjusted for urban biases) is higher than the previously warmest year (0.76 °C compared to the 1998 anomaly of 0.75 °C for the same months, and a 0.71 °C anomaly for the whole year), while the land - ocean temperature index (which includes sea surface temperature data) is trailing slightly behind (0.58 °C compared to 0.60 °C Jan - Sep, 0.56 °C for the whole of 1998).
Figure 1: Short - term cooling trends from Jan»70 to Nov» 77, Nov»77 to Nov» 86,
Sep»87 to Nov» 96, Mar»97 to Oct» 02, and Oct»02 to Dec»11 (blue) vs. the 42 - year warming trend (Jan»70 to Dec» 11; red) using NOAA NCDC
land - ocean
data.