NASA and NOAA have announced that 2015 was the warmest year on record, clearly ahead of the previous record year, 2014.
It can be seen from the graphic that the most warming is in the northern hemisphere, especially in the Arctic.
Radio NZ: Last year was hottest on record globally – NASA
Data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that in 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.90°C above the 20th century average, surpassing 2014’s previous record by 0.16 degrees.
During the final month, the December combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the highest on record for any month in the 136-year record.
This was the fourth time a global temperature record had been set this century, the agencies said in a summary of their annual report.
“2015 was remarkable even in the context of the larger, long-term warming trend,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The sharp increase in 2015 was driven in part by El Nino, a natural weather cycle in the Pacific that warms the ocean surface every two to seven years. But scientists say human activities – notably burning fossil fuels – were the main driver behind the rise.
“We would not have seen the record warming without the long-term trend,” said Mr Schmidt.
- During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62°F (0.90°C) above the 20th century average. This was the highest among all 136 years in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record set last year by 0.29°F (0.16°C) and marking the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century. This is also the largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken. Ten months had record high temperatures for their respective months during the year. The five highest monthly departures from average for any month on record all occurred during 2015.
All the warmest years since1880 have been since 1998.
A summary of the NOAA climate data here.
Sixteen Warmest Years (1880–2015)
The following table lists the global combined land and ocean annually-averaged temperature rank and anomaly for each of the 16 (two tied at #15) warmest years on record.
| RANK 1 = WARMEST PERIOD OF RECORD: 1880–2015 |
YEAR | ANOMALY °C | ANOMALY °F |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2015 | 0.90 | 1.62 |
| 2 | 2014 | 0.74 | 1.33 |
| 3 | 2010 | 0.70 | 1.26 |
| 4 | 2013 | 0.66 | 1.19 |
| 5 | 2005 | 0.65 | 1.17 |
| 6 (tie) | 1998 | 0.63 | 1.13 |
| 6 (tie) | 2009 | 0.63 | 1.13 |
| 8 | 2012 | 0.62 | 1.12 |
| 9 (tie) | 2003 | 0.61 | 1.10 |
| 9 (tie) | 2006 | 0.61 | 1.10 |
| 9 (tie) | 2007 | 0.61 | 1.10 |
| 12 | 2002 | 0.60 | 1.08 |
| 13 (tie) | 2004 | 0.57 | 1.03 |
| 13 (tie) | 2011 | 0.57 | 1.03 |
| 15 (tie) | 2001 | 0.54 | 0.97 |
| 15 (tie) | 2008 | 0.54 | 0.97 |
Much of the record warmth for the globe can be attributed to record warmth in the global oceans.
Kathryn Thomsen
/ 21st January 2016Great article – thanks! I just summarized a climate talk you might be interested in discussing warming trends – we’ve experienced 14 of the hottest years on record in the last 15 years – http://hundredgivers.com/2016/01/20/changing-climate-salmon-are-cooking-but-not-on-the-grill/
Zedd
/ 21st January 2016I got trashed for saying ‘Climate change is happening NOW !’
Oh thats it, now I remember.. its just part of a normal cycle.. the massive increase in CO2 & CH4 etc, is making no difference..
NOT-LOLing actually
Alan Wilkinson
/ 21st January 2016Does anyone really believe we have adequate global temperature records for the last century to fractions of a degree?
Meanwhile the reliable and comprehensive satellite data we do have since 1979 remains unalarming: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2016/01/uah-v6-global-temperature-update-for-dec-2015-0-44-deg-c/ or for the alarmist Spencer-haters see the RSS version which gives the same result.
Alan Wilkinson
/ 21st January 2016Sorry about the dup. Pasting went awol on my phone.
Pete George
/ 21st January 2016I’ve had a go at tidying that up.
kittycatkin
/ 21st January 2016That’s clever ! 🙂
kittycatkin
/ 21st January 2016I wouldn’t describe .9o as ‘hotter’. I expect that it wouldn’t really be that noticeable. To say that this made it the hottest year etc is using emotive language-warmer would be a better word.
Brown
/ 22nd January 2016This is just rubbish. The science is clear its rubbish and that battle is being won despite the threats to those who stand against the absolute nonsense being preached by alarmists. The battle is now on to get the media to be honest and print the alternative view. Go to “Not PC” and watch the recent video with Bob Carter and friends, scientists as opposed to weather men or Green politicians explaining the reality.
Downtick all you like – it doesn’t make me wrong.
Brown
/ 22nd January 2016I checked it to see how many views of the interesting clip on Youtube and saw just over 6,000. Some nobody can get a million hits by taking a picture of a cat yet life changing stuff is passed by without a glance. This shows how dumbed down some (or most) are are – its embarrassing that most stumble over the truth, get up and carry on as though nothing happened.