I had some time during this weekend, because of the crazy amounts of snow dumped on Dayton, so I updated the Open Climate dashboard.
The last experiment that we did on climate data, showed significant positive correlations between Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide emissions and the Earths Average temperature. We couldn’t reject the null hypothesis, and with the current data, suggest there is a clear tie between emissions and average temperatures.
The biggest question is “do we care?” If the earth warms up, what happens (other than maybe less snow in Ohio, please?) One of the most commonly cited stat correlates sea-level rises with temperature increases. Let’s do the science!
Experiment
Null Hypothesis = There is no significant correlation between sea-levels and average earth temperatures.
Alternative Hypothesis = There is a significant correlation between sea levels and average earth temperatures.
Methodology
Back to our best friends! The NOAA API.
- Hook up OpenClimate dashboard to Sea Level Data
- Merge Tables on the Year
- Correlate the Datasets
- Published Updated OpenClimate
Results
So, first things first, yes, clear significant positive correlation between the sea-level rising and the rising global temperatures; which we correlation mapped to growing emissions.
| Metric | Correlation | P-Value |
| Sea Level & Temp | .94 | >=<.05 (2.88e-16) |
More interestingly, since the baseline temps in 2000, it’s increased an average of about 80mm, or 8 centimeters. For you Americans, that’s around 3 inches, in 25 years. That doesn’t seem like a ton, but can certainly have an impact over a long period of time, or areas at or below sea level.
Sources
Center for Satellite Applications and Research – NOAA / NESDIS / STAR. n.d. Retrieved January 26, 2026. https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/star/index.php.
Ritchie, Hannah, Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser. 2023. “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions.
Web Services API (version 2) Documentation | Climate Data Online (CDO) | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). n.d. Retrieved November 25, 2025. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/webservices/v2.
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