2015 will almost certainly be the hottest year ever recorded, this finding comes after July was found to be the warmest month on record.
Last month the average global temperature across both land and ocean surfaces reached 16.61C/61.86F, which is 0.81C higher than the months 20th century average, according to scientists. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said – in the most recent monthly report – that the temperature was also higher than the global mark set in 1998 and 2010.
Jake Crouch, NOAA climate scientist, said: “It just reaffirms what we already know: that the Earth is warming… The warming is accelerating and we’re really seeing it this year.”
The NOAA have records of global temperature that date all the way back to 1880, but of those records nine of the 10 hottest dates came after 2005. It’s not just July that has been breaking records either, the first seven months of this year have also been the hottest on record, according to the NOAA. The previous record from 2010 has been surpassed by 0.09C.
Jessica Blunden, NOAA climate scientist, told the Associated Press she was “99 percent certain” that this year is going to be the hottest on record.
Other scientists as well as Ms Blunden and Mr Crouch have said that the record-breaking temperatures we are seeing can be attributed to a combination of a strong El-Nino and man-made climate change.
The NOAA report has showed that while the land-surface temperature was only the seventh highest on record for July, the sea-surface temperatures were the highest ever recorded for any month. The report says: “The global value was driven by record warmth across large expanses of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.”
This analysis follows confirmation from both NOAA and NASA that 2014 was the hottest year since records began. The average temperature for the year – across land and sea – was 0.69C above the 20th century average.