It's getting hot. Is it time to do something?
According to NASA, 2018 was the fourth warmest year in the ongoing warming trend
The Earth's global surface temperature in 2018 was the fourth warmest since 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Global temperatures in 2018 were 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.83 degrees Celsius) warmer than the averages from 1951 to 1980, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Worldwide, temperatures for 2018 lagged behind those of 2016, 2017, and 2015. The past five years combined are the warmest years on modern record.
“2018 was once again an extremely warm year, in addition to long-term global warming,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt.
Since the 1880s, the average surface temperature has increased by 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius). This warming has been caused primarily by increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere caused by human activities, Schmidt said.
Weather dynamics often influence regional temperatures, so not every region of the Earth experiences similar warming. NOAA found that the 2018 annual mean temperature for the contiguous 48 United States was the 14th warmest on record . Read more…
Earth's long-term warming is evident in this visualization of NASA's global temperature record, which shows how the planet's temperatures are changing over time, compared to a baseline from 1951 to 1980. The record is shown as a rolling five-year average. Image credit: NASA Science Visualization Studio/Kathryn Mersmann.