The paper reviews the surface air temperature record over the past 150 years, focusing on the homogeneity of the basic data and the standard errors of estimation of hemispheric and global temperature anomalies. It presents global temperature change fields for two 20-year periods of significant warming: 1925–1944 and 1978–1997, showing global temperature increases of 0.37°C and 0.32°C, respectively. The warming has been accompanied by a decrease in areas affected by exceptionally cool temperatures and a lesser extent of exceptionally warm temperatures. Recent decades have seen greater increases in night minimum temperatures than in day maximum temperatures, leading to a decrease in the diurnal temperature range. The paper discusses the divergence between surface and satellite temperature measurements of the lower troposphere and provides a comprehensive 1° × 1° grid-based absolute surface air temperature climatology, primarily based on data from 1961–1990. The climatology indicates that the annual average surface temperature of the world is 14.0°C, with the Northern Hemisphere at 14.6°C and the Southern Hemisphere at 13.4°C. The annual cycle of global mean temperatures follows that of the Northern Hemisphere, with a maximum in July and a minimum in January. The paper also assesses the accuracy of hemispheric and global temperature anomaly estimates, discusses errors in the data, and analyzes trends in extreme temperatures, Arctic temperatures, and maximum and minimum temperatures. It concludes by comparing recent surface warming with satellite estimates, highlighting the differences and potential reasons for these discrepancies.The paper reviews the surface air temperature record over the past 150 years, focusing on the homogeneity of the basic data and the standard errors of estimation of hemispheric and global temperature anomalies. It presents global temperature change fields for two 20-year periods of significant warming: 1925–1944 and 1978–1997, showing global temperature increases of 0.37°C and 0.32°C, respectively. The warming has been accompanied by a decrease in areas affected by exceptionally cool temperatures and a lesser extent of exceptionally warm temperatures. Recent decades have seen greater increases in night minimum temperatures than in day maximum temperatures, leading to a decrease in the diurnal temperature range. The paper discusses the divergence between surface and satellite temperature measurements of the lower troposphere and provides a comprehensive 1° × 1° grid-based absolute surface air temperature climatology, primarily based on data from 1961–1990. The climatology indicates that the annual average surface temperature of the world is 14.0°C, with the Northern Hemisphere at 14.6°C and the Southern Hemisphere at 13.4°C. The annual cycle of global mean temperatures follows that of the Northern Hemisphere, with a maximum in July and a minimum in January. The paper also assesses the accuracy of hemispheric and global temperature anomaly estimates, discusses errors in the data, and analyzes trends in extreme temperatures, Arctic temperatures, and maximum and minimum temperatures. It concludes by comparing recent surface warming with satellite estimates, highlighting the differences and potential reasons for these discrepancies.