NASA: 2015 Was Warmest Year on Record

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA have shared that 2015 has been recorded as Earth’s warmest year since record keeping began in 1880.

The record breaking year is not very surprising. During the 2015 year, 10 out of the 12 months broke the record for the warmest respective month. The previous record, set in 2014, was beat by .23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius).

The record breaking temperatures are only continuing this warm weather trend. CNN shared that “December became the first month to ever reach 2 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for the globe.” December was also recorded as the wettest and warmest month in the United States.

“Since the late-19th century, the planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. This change is largely driven by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.” NASA shared in a Tumblr post.

NASA further explained that the data collected for this study is a combination of “surface measurements from 6,300 weather stations, ship-and-buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.”

The weather phenomena El Niño had a helping hand breaking the record. The El Niño effect can warm or cool the Pacific Ocean allowing temperatures to fluctuate, and in this case raising the global temperature.

To see the full 2015 surface temperature date set click here.