Abstract Several recent studies have highlighted the potential of utilizing statistical techniques to pattern match observations and model simulations in order to establish a causal relationship between anthropogenic activity and climate change. Up to now these have tended to concentrate upon the spatial or vertical patterns of temperature change. Given the availability of contiguous, global-scale satellite observations over the past two decades, in this paper the authors seek to employ an analogous technique to spatially match model predictions to directly measured radiances. As part of the initial investigations, the technique to channel 1 of the Stratospheric Sounding Unit, sensitive to stratospheric temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations, is applied. Over the majority of the globe the observations show a negative trend in brightness temperature, with significant decreases occurring throughout the Tropics. The influence of the volcanic eruptions of El Chichon and Mount Pinatubo can also be clear...