February 2016 was the hottest February by far ever recorded in the history of the Earth.
Climatologists blame global warming and an El Niño weather event in the Pacific for the increase in temperature in February this year. According to data released by NASA, the average global temperature in February was 1.35 degrees Celsius, or 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit, above normal for February. This margin is the biggest recorded for any month against a baseline of 1951 to 1980.
"I think even the hard-core climate people are looking at this and saying: 'What on Earth?'" says David Carlson, the director of the World Climate Research Programme at the UN's World Meteorological Organization. "It's startling. It's definitely a changed planet ... It makes us nervous about the long-term impact."
Many scientists have expressed their astonishment over the data released by NASA.
"This result is a true shocker, and yet another reminder of the incessant long-term rise in global temperature resulting from human-produced greenhouse gases," say Jeff Masters and Bob Henson, meteorologists at Weather Underground.
Professor Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, also posted on Twitter regarding the temperature measurements for February 2016.
Normally I don't comment on individual months (too much weather, not enough climate), but last month was special.https://t.co/nALWMlNDcP
— Gavin Schmidt (@ClimateOfGavin) 12 March 2016
The year 2014 was the hottest year for Earth and the record was shattered by 2015, which is now the hottest year recorded by scientists. Experts also believe that 2016 could break 2015's record and become the hottest year for the planet.
In December 2015, 195 countries around the world agreed upon a climate deal in Paris to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a net zero by 2100. These nations have agreed to shift from fossil fuels to greener energies like wind and solar power.
The climate deal in Paris also agreed to keep global temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius per year.
Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, says that the data released by NASA is very worrying for the entire planet. The data suggests that soon the planet may breach the 2 degrees Celsius target. Ward says that government organizations should take the NASA data very seriously and roll up their sleeves for cutting greenhouse emission at a faster pace.
The UK Met office also confirmed that Arctic ice has hit record low, which also contributes to the increase in temperature.
The previous record was January 2016 with the average temperature being 1.14 degrees Celsius above the normal January average.
