The global surface temperature of the Earth in 2017 ranked it as the second hottest year since 1880, according to analysis carried out by NASA.
The findings come after recent reports that a mini ice age may happen within the next 30 years or so. It is pretty hard to think that the Earth's temperature could drop to very low levels within decades after the scorching heat that the planet experienced last year.
NASA: 2017 Is The Second Hottest Year
According to a report published by scientists from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies of NASA in New York, the global average temperature of 2017 was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.90 degrees Celsius, warmer compared to the mean temperature from 1951 to 1980.
"Despite colder than average temperatures in any one part of the world, temperatures over the planet as a whole continue the rapid warming trend we've seen over the last 40 years," said Gavin Schmidt, the director of the GISS.
NASA said that the average temperature of the surface of the Earth has increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, or just over 1 degree Celsius, over the last century. The planet's increasing warmth is primarily attributed to increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other man-made emissions in the atmosphere.
The warmest year on record by NASA is 2016. However, temperatures during that year were bolstered by the El Niño phenomenon, which causes warming effects around the Earth due to waters with higher temperature from the Pacific Ocean.
Without taking into account the effects of El Niño, 2017 would be considered the warmest year on record, a statistic that should further ring the alarm bells on the severity of the global warming problem.
Other Analysis On How Hot 2017 Was
NASA cited a separate analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which claimed that 2017 was instead the third-warmest year on record. According to NASA, the differences in rankings stem from the differences in how the two agencies compute for global temperatures.
Despite the statistical deviations, NASA and NOAA agreed that the five hottest years ever recorded happened since 2010.
Another report, this time from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, stated that in 2017, the top 2,000 meters of the ocean were the hottest ever recorded. In addition, the past five years have been the ocean's warmest five years in recorded history.
The study, which was coauthored with the Chinese Academy of Science, also attributed the environmental issue to global warming.
