“Temperatures over the planet as a whole continue the rapid warming trend we’ve seen over the last 40 years…”
NASA announced Thursday that 2017 was the second-hottest year on record, just behind 2016.
The space agency gave 2017 the title because it surpassed all other years, except 2016, in how much warmer it was compared to the mean for 1951-1980.Last year saw global temperatures above 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above levels seen during the late 19th century, when it became possible to measure global temperatures.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s separate analysis estimated that 2017 was the third-warmest year on record, a difference NASA attributed to the agencies’ different methods.
In a press release, NASA blamed the 20th century’s temperature increase — about 2 degrees Fahrenheit — largely on “human-made emissions” such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Both NOAA and NASA said the five warmest years on record happened after 2010.
“Despite colder than average temperatures in any one part of the world, temperatures over the planet as a whole continue the rapid warming trend we’ve seen over the last 40 years,” Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said.
The agency detailed how it analyzed temperatures:
NASA’s temperature analyses incorporate surface temperature measurements from 6,300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.
These raw measurements are analyzed using an algorithm that considers the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and urban heating effects that could skew the conclusions. These calculations produce the global average temperature deviations from the baseline period of 1951 to 1980.
The data comes amid international concern about rising temperatures and their effects on the planet. President Donald Trump received backlash when he pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, which asked nations to contribute to reducing the global temperature.
Late last year, Trump defended that decision when he joked that the U. S. could use more global warming:
In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29,2017
“Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against,” Trump said, likely referring to the money he would have spent on the Paris climate agreement.
