NASA and NOAA report 2015 as hottest year on record

Last year’s average temperatures eclipsed the previous record year, which was – you guessed it – 2014.

The two U.S. agencies said that this was the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century. In 2014, global temperatures were 0.13 Celsius warmer, leaving a huge margin between 2014 and 2015 temperatures.

Both reports said including 2015, 15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred during the 21st century, with the exception of 1998, which now tied with 2009 as the sixth warmest year on record.

“Even without El Nino, this would have been the warmest year on record”, Schmidt said.

Gavin Schmidt of NASA called 2015 “very, very clearly the warmest year by a long chalk”.

Now that a particularly strong El Niño-based warming- trend is under way, Schmidt and Karl said, scientists believe it could combine with 2015’s high sea surface temperatures to make 2016 another record-breaking hot year.

“Looking ahead, 2016 looks like it’s also going to be another warm year and that’s associated with the fact that human influence on the climate through greenhouse gas emissions has pushed us into new territory”, said Dr Peter Stott from the British meteorological organization’s Hadley Research Centre.

The record warmth was reportedly widespread throughout the entire planet from Central America to northern South America, parts of Europe extending to Asia, a majority of the Indian Ocean and much more areas all around the world. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University said a strong El Nino can add about a third of a degree of warming to Earth’s temperature but that “sits upon the ramp of global warming”. Rain will become heavier and some storms more severe as the globe heats up, and cold snaps may become rarer.

The oceanic-atmospheric phenomenon El Niño, which is characterized by above-normal water temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, will contribute significantly to this warming of the global mean temperature. Taking this into account, NASA analysis estimates 2015 was the warmest year with 94 percent certainty.

The Northern Hemisphere saw the biggest rise in land temperatures, finishing 2.59° F hotter than the 20th century average.

NASA monitors Earth’s vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites, as well as airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. “A massive ramp-up of renewable – and low-carbon – energy will be essential to stay within two degrees Celsius of warming and avoid new records being set”.

The agency reported, “The past year with a below-average temperature was 1996”.