The past year of 2016 was recognized as the warmest of all seasons
Last reviewed: 16.05.2018
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Meteorologists have analyzed the temperature and atmospheric indicators that were recorded in just the past year, and concluded that 2016 had broken all previous records by the average annual temperature.
Last year, throughout the twelve months, it has been stubbornly breaking records on the temperature of the environment: it was officially recognized as the warmest for the entire historical period of observations of the weather. In 2016, the average temperature on the earth's surface was almost one degree higher than the average values recorded in the last century. At the same time, a record temperature record has been registered for three consecutive years in different parts of the world. This is indicated by evidence of regular reports of the space agency in conjunction with the National Office for Natural Research and Oceanography.
"The fixed temperature values on the surface of our planet over the past year were the highest since the first made a meteorological record - and it was in the distant 1880," commented the situation at NASA.
Specialists meteorologists found that during the eight months of last year, temperature marks were record.
Thus, the average temperature was found to be 0.99 ° C higher than a similar average of the middle of the last century.
In general, since the end of the nineteenth century, the average temperature on the earth's surface has risen by 1.1 ° C.
Thus, 2016 did not violate the trend of the last three years, becoming the warmest in the history of meteorological observations.
The head of the Goddard Institute for Space Research at the Space Agency, G. Schmidt, for his part, comments on the situation: "According to our observations, warming has been growing for the third year in a row. Of course, we will not argue that such a trend will occur constantly and annually, but you can not deny it either, because the fact remains a fact. "
The main driving force, which leads to temperature records, is the increase in the amount of released carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Although, taking into account the last two years, the situation here is complicated by the imbalance of the temperature conditions of the water surface of the equatorial zone of the Pacific Ocean - this is a natural anomaly, with another more common name, "El Niño."
One of the specialists of meteorologists commented on this phenomenon as follows: "One year of warming can be considered an accident, but several years in a row - at this time for three years - is a clear trend."
Especially clearly warming is traced in the Arctic. This is the mass melting of areas representing permafrost, and a rapid decrease in the volume of the ice cap. Such changes lead to gradually growing coastal erosion, which has already negatively affected the life characteristics of the peoples living in arctic conditions.
Other consequences of global warming are the withering drought and a sharp drop in yields in the African and South Asian lands, the growing level of the world's oceans.