Earth Sets Warming Record for Third Straight Year

© Sputnik / Alexandr Piragis / Go to the mediabankDachnye hot springs in Kamchatka.
Dachnye hot springs in Kamchatka. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Last year, 2016, was the hottest year on record since 1880. Prior to 2016, 2015 was the hottest year on and, surprise, prior to 2015, the hottest year on record was 2014.

Global warming - Sputnik International
Putin Could Persuade Trump Climate Change Not 'Hoax' – Ex-Presidential Nominee
Year 2016 has become the hottest year since 1880, when meteorologists began recording annual temperature statistics. These latest weather statistics are shared among several US and UK agencies and international weather groups, even if they differ in precise figures.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), last year had an average global temperature of 14.84 degrees Celsius (58.59 degrees Fahrenheit). This is 0.04 degrees Celsius higher than 2015. While this temperature difference might seem small, Dele Arndt, NOAA's chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch, says this is the largest difference ever observed by the agency.

Arndt is suggesting that this is a clear indication of a global warming trend that began in the late 20th century.

NASA's figures are a bit different, as their estimations cover more of the Arctic region. Because of that, the agency says the difference between the two last years is 0.12 Celsius, as the Arctic "was enormously warm, like totally off the charts compared to everything else," according to Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York, the agency's global temperature-monitoring hub.

"This is clearly a record," he said. "We are now no longer only looking at something that only scientists can see, but is apparent to people in our daily lives."

Environmentalists demonstrate near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues at Le Bourget, December 12, 2015 - Sputnik International
EU Climate Change Group: 2016 Hottest Year Ever
The British meteorological office provided the most moderate numbers, saying the temperature difference is no more than 0.01 Celsius, a measurable difference.

All these estimations are supported by those of international weather groups, including the World Meteorological Organization.

Prior to 2014, temperature records were set in 2010 and 2005. Scientists say that this year's figures were created by the combined effect of manmade greenhouse gasses and the natural meteorological phenomenon of El Nino, a long-period temperature oscillation in the Pacific Ocean. It is currently thought that 2017 will likely to be less hot, or at least not warmer, than 2016.

Global temperature increases are "harmful on several levels, including human welfare, ecology, economics, and even geopolitics," said Oklahoma University meteorology professor Jason Furtado.

"Warming (is) nearly everywhere," Corinne Le Quere, director of England's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said. "The Arctic sea ice is collapsing. Spikes in fires from the heat. Heavy rainfall from more water vapor in the air."

"Of course this is climate change, it's overwhelmingly climate change," she said.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала