According to NASA scientists, 2014 is the warmest year recorded since 1880. There is video that displays the global temperature averages in five-year time series. As time passes by, the red color indicating warming can be seen increasing, meaning that the Earth is indeed getting warmer. The video shows the estimated changing global warmth from 1880 up to 2014.
NASA scientists continue to expect that the earth’s temperatures are going fluctuate year after year, but they are certain of one thing; the earth as a whole has definitely warmed up for up to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.8 degrees Celsius since the records in 1880. This is a kind of trend that is significantly driven by the uncontrollable increase of greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions into the earth’s atmosphere.
The analysis given by NASA-GISS includes the measurements in temperature gathered from 6,300 weather stations worldwide, buoy-based and ship-based ocean temperature readings, as well as gathered data from the Antarctic research stations. Plugging the measurements into an algorithm allows for the proper estimation of average global temperature.
Warmest Years on Record
NASA scientists reported that as of 2014, the years 2006, 2009 and 2013 are on the same position as the seventh warmest since the year 1880. The record also disclosed that 2005 and 2010 are the warmest years ever prior to the warmest temperature recorded for 2014. This only means that the fluctuating temperatures are not really going down, but rather going to the extremes.
In 2013, it was recorded that the average earth temperatures was at 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit or 14.6 degrees Celsius. This temperature is warmer that the baseline for the mid 20th century of 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.6 degrees Celsius.
Since 1880, it has been recorded that the average global temperatures increased for about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.8 degrees Celsius. This record was based on the analysis performed by the NASA-GISS.
Warmest Years Varied From One Region to Another
The relatively warm temperatures of 2013 were not really experienced around the world. For Australia, 2013 was the hottest year ever, while continental USA, recorded 2013 as the 42nd warmest year in history. The temperature analysis performed by GISS is collected from weather data from over one thousand meteorological stations from all over the world, sea-surface temperature complied through satellite observations and measurements through Antarctic research stations, considering the account station’s history along with the urban heat-island effects. In order to effectively compute the divergence between a given month’s surface temperature and the same place’s average temperature from the year 1951 to the year 1980. This 30 year period works as a foundation for the analysis, and according to the records, it’s been 38 years since a year with cooler than average temperature was recorded.
Regional temperature differences are more powerfully affected by the weather dynamics instead of global mean. For instance, in 2014 in the U.S. there are parts of the East Coast and Midwest that were uncommonly cool, while in Alaska California, Nevada and Arizona, the residents experienced the warmest year recorded.
Different Views and Opinions on the NASA Video
The video itself has received different reactions from different people. Some people mentioned that if you trust Thermometer temperature readings then you probably believe that Global Warming is true and that 2014 is indeed the warmest year recorded.
It was also commented that the video animation displays data from worldwide network of temperature observations. The succession towards greater coverage of the red colors in the course of time is an indication that there is indeed a long-term global warming occurring over the last century.
Another commenter noted that there is one glitch in the video and the description. It was specified that the temperature rise is distorted by the current and more accurate temperature measurements. The noted temperature rise is about similar as the variable. Basically, this means that old and new data do not really correlate, thus there is not much information that would either confirm or deny the claim that 2014 is the warmest year on record.
Out of the whole description, it was also noted that the fifth and the sixth paragraphs are the ones that really made sense. The commenter also mentioned that he never doubted that there are indeed some significant weather pattern changes, but he also does not think that the overall global warming is going to occur that fast.
Another important observation is that some global locations really change their average temperatures, but as the general air currents revolve with different minimal tracks, there still could be a very small change. Unless the world experiences a collective total global system disorder, with generally reversed shifts in magnetic, the climate change trend might still take many hundreds – if not thousands – of years.
This is another view regarding the video animation from NASA: Thermal surveys are a matter of coverage and resolution, while today’s instruments are giving us mounds of data, the very idea that we have produced sufficient coverage and resolution misses the mark. Convection makes surveys very difficult because heat exchange is a moving target. Cleaning up data needs to happen in order to increase the accuracy of a speculative survey. And that’s where we are at in climate science. No credible scientist will instruct the public to take data or algorithms as truth. Science does the best it can, and there is quite a bit of variability within the climate science community regarding the sensitivity of Co2 forcing.
One analysis is that no one really knows what the global temperature is. People can only theorize based on the measurements and the algorithms used in managing them. In order though, to properly perform thermal surveys, advanced technology is needed and it is important to spread the devices out in proportion to their peak coverage concentric. Measurement alone does little in helping the public understand anything about climate. Trial and error has no room for global climate.
Experts’ Views on NASA’s Claim
Experts disagree over the significance of the claim. It was noted however, that there is slight doubt that the fast warming during the 1980s and early the 1990s has slowed. It was added though that there was significant rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
The new figures only showed that the report of global warming stopping is nothing but a myth, probably wishful thinking on the part of some people. Global warming may have slowed down, but to say that it has stopped is something really close to impossible. It was analyzed that the trend for 0.12C global warming per decade is long-term and there is a chance of it picking up again unabatedly, in case there is continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
Other experts concluded that if there is a long-term rate of 0.12C per decade then it could only mean that the Earth would be 1C warmer when the century reached its end, and not 4C to 5C as previously claimed.
It was also insisted by climate skeptics that these new figures only showed the warming is at a pause as there was no significant statistic warming trend since 1997. This is because the complete rise over this time period was particularly smaller than error margin.
It was also added that a longer view should be taken since 15 years seems a bit too short. Natural fluctuations are expected, as well as different natural occurrences (like changes in solar output and volcanic eruption) that may increase the global warming rates.
Since the 1880, it has been recorded that the average surface temperature of the earth has significantly warmed by around 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.8 degrees Celsius. It is a trend mainly driven by the notable rise in carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Since 1880, Earth’s average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), a trend that is largely driven by the increase in carbon dioxide and other human emissions into the planet’s atmosphere. The majority of that warming has occurred in the past three decades.
The series shown in the animation can be viewed as warm years’ series in warm decades’ series. The individual year’s ranking may have been affected by chaotic and disoriented weather patterns and the long-term warming trends can be attributable to the climate change triggers and these include mainly of the human greenhouse gas emissions.
While 2014 can still be claimed as the earth’s long-term warming trend, some scientists still anticipate that there will be year-to-year variations in the average global temperature caused by disastrous phenomena like the La Niña or the El Niño. These phenomena significantly cool or warm the tropical Pacific and are considered to play significant roles in flattening the long-term global warming trend for the previous 15 years. The 2014 record warmth however, occurred when there was El Niño-neutral year.
NASA monitors the planet’s vital signs from space, land and air using a fleet of satellites plus ground-based observation and airborne campaigns. NASA is constantly developing new ways of observing and studying the planet’s interconnected natural systems along with computer analysis tools and long-term data records for better viewing of how the Earth is changing. GISS shares this exclusive knowledge with the public as they vigilantly work with institutions around the globe, for the contribution of understanding and protection of planet Earth.