Blame global warming: Scientists say 2014 was the hottest year

Washington: The year 2014 was the hottest on record, with global average temperature increasing about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880, according to US government scientists.

Two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists have found that the year 2014 ranks as Earth’s warmest since 1880. The year’s record-breaking warmth continues a long-term trend of a warming climate.

The global average temperature has increased about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880, with most of that warming occurring during the last three to four decades.

The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

In an independent analysis of the raw data, NOAA scientists also found 2014 to be the warmest on record. “This is the latest in a series of warm years, in a series of warm decades. While the ranking of individual years can be affected by chaotic weather patterns, the long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt.

While 2014 temperatures continue the planet’s long-term warming trend, scientists still expect to see year-to-year fluctuations in average global temperature caused by phenomena such as El Nino or La Nina.

These phenomena warm or cool the tropical Pacific and are thought to have played a role in the flattening of the long-term warming trend over the past 15 years. However, 2014’s record warmth occurred during an El Nino-neutral year. The GISS analysis incorporates surface temperature measurements from 6,300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.

This raw data is analysed using an algorithm that takes into account the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and urban heating effects that could skew the calculation.

The result is an estimate of the global average temperature difference from a baseline period of 1951 to 1980.

PTI