Category: Climate Change

The Present is Warmer than the Past

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The Present is Warmer than the Past: Difference from 1980-2015 annual mean (℃)
This animated figure shows the seasonal cycle in global temperature anomalies for every month since 1880. Each line shows how much the global monthly temperature was above or below the annual global mean from 1980–2015. The column on the right lists each year when a new global temperature record was set. These seasonal anomalies are drawn from the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) model run by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens

Arctic Sea Ice Is the Thinnest and Youngest It’s Been in 60 Years

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Working from a combination of satellite records and declassified submarine sonar data, NASA scientists have constructed a 60-year record of Arctic sea ice thickness. Right now, Arctic sea ice is the youngest and thinnest its been since we started keeping records. More than 70 percent of Arctic sea ice is now seasonal, which means it grows in the winter and melts in the summer, but doesn’t last from year to year. This seasonal ice melts faster and breaks up easier, making it much more susceptible to wind and atmospheric conditions.

Music: Galore by Lee Groves [PRS], Peter George Marett [PRS]

This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13089 Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Katy Mersmann

If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/NASAExplorer

2018 Was the Fourth Warmest Year on Record

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2018 was the fourth hottest year on record. Earth has been warming up for decades. The last five years are the hottest five years on record and the last four were all more than 1 degree Celsius, warmer than the 19th Century average.

A warmer climate contributes to melting polar ice and mountain glaciers, rising sea levels, more severe droughts, longer fire seasons.

NASA and NOAA work together to study the temperature from weather stations, ships and buoys in the ocean, and Antarctic research stations.

Credits:
Kathryn Mersmann (USRA): Lead Producer
Ellen T. Gray (ADNET Systems Inc.): Lead Writer
Patrick Lynch (NASA/GSFC): Lead Public Affairs Officer
Gavin A. Schmidt (NASA/GSFC GISS): Lead Scientist