Was Warmest Year in Recorded History: NOAA and NASA

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. Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Gavin Schmidt, said the trend will only continue.

A report from New York Times revealed that hitting the highest all-time temperature has been expected by scientists in 2015, largely because of the onslaught of one of the biggest El Niño droughts in a hundred years. This was also 0.90 degree Celsius (1.62 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average 20century temperature.

2015 was Earth’s hottest year on record, according to new data released Wednesday by NOAA and NASA.

Findings from the research show that 2015 was the warmest year since modern record-keeping began in 1880. In 2014, global temperatures were 0.13 Celsius warmer, leaving a huge margin between 2014 and 2015 temperatures.

So while 2015 was “no screaming hell” in Canada, says Phillips, “we know that the world is warmer now”.

Although this year’s El Niño shares some responsibility for the higher temperatures, NASA scientists state that 2015 temperatures are the result of a long-term trend. These rising temperatures on the planet’s atmosphere were greatly attributed to the continuing increase of carbon dioxide emissions along with other man-made factors that intensify the greenhouse effect. “It’s not unprecedented to have two years in a row of record-breaking temperatures, but in our records, we’ve never had three years in a row”, Schmidt told Deborah Netburn at the Los Angeles Times.

In the backdrop of the Paris climate change summit, it is to be noted that the 2 degree limit on increasing temperature set by the summit has already been halfway reached. However, the real culprit is global climate change, driven by human activity.

“Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and NASA’s vital work on this important issue affects every person on Earth”, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Today’s announcement not only underscores how critical NASA’s Earth observation program is, it is also a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice – now is the time to act on our climate”, he said.