Year 2015 broke the record as the warmest year since 1880. Meteorologists from United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA have recently confirmed that Earth's has reached the highest temperature on record last year.
According to the NOAA 2015 global temperatures data released on Wednesday, Jan.20, the Earth's temperature last year surpassed 2014 by a whopping 0.29 degrees at 14.79°C or (58.62°F). This was also 0.90 degree Celsius (1.62 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average 20th century temperature.
NASA climate experts revealed that the hottest years occurred from the beginning of the 21st century. These rising temperatures on the planet's atmosphere were greatly attributed to the continuing increase of carbon dioxide emissions along with other man-made factors that intensify the greenhouse effect.
El Niño, which was in effect in the Pacific Ocean, also greatly contributed to the warming of the earth last year. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Director Gavin Schmidt expressed that El Niño had a significant effect over 2015's warm temperature, yet the increasing trend and the record-breaking heat were products of a long-term cumulative effect.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that climate change is a great problem in today's world and the agency plays an important task on this matter. "Today's announcement not only underscores how critical NASA's Earth observation program is, it is also a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice -- now is the time to act on our climate," he said.
Through the years, NASA has been monitoring the Earth's vital signs and recording their observations and analyses using the most modern technologies and methodologies. The agency also shares these data with other international organizations working towards a better understanding and protection of the planet.
Meanwhile, the Met Office, the U.K.'s national weather service, released in its forecast that the warm temperature trend is about to continue up to this year with a global average temperature ranging from 0.72 °C to 0.96 °C higher than the (1961-1990) average of 14.0 °C.
