NASA: Last decade is warmest on record

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NASA: Last decade is warmest on record

24 January 2010 87 views

The first decade of the 21st century is on track to become the warmest on record, according to the UN weather agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA also revealed that 2009 was the second warmest year since temperature records began in 1880. It joins the other warmest years of 1998, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The hottest was 2005.

Effects of the warming can be seen all over the globe.

The report noted an extreme heat wave in India in May and said parts of China experienced their warmest year ever. Areas of Australia and New Zealand endured record-breaking warmth throughout the year. Only regions of the United States and Canada experienced cooler temperatures than average; although Alaska reported the second-warmest July on record.

The Arctic Ocean ice cap is more vulnerable than ever, with the 2007-2009 summer melt reducing ocean area covered by the ice to an all-time low. Glaciers worldwide are retreating at alarming rates and Antarctica is warming more rapidly than previously believed.

An annual report by the National Climatic Data Center reported that this decade’s global surface temperature is almost 1 degree Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. Policymakers at the Copenhagen conference last month agreed on a goal to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius, in an effort to avert the worst effects of global warming.

James E. Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and one of the world’s leading climatologists acknowledged that, “When we average temperatures over five or ten years…we find global warming is continuing unabated.” New York Times

Photo: (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)