The year 2014 was Earth’s warmest in 134 years of records, according to separate independent analysis of temperature data by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Both studies found that 2014 was the warmest year since 1880, when records began. With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 2000.
Independent measurements by 4 separate institutes around the world all agree that the world has been getting warmer since 1880 with accelerating warming in the last few decades.
Since 1880, Earth’s average surface temperature has warmed by about 0.8 degrees Celsius, a trend largely driven by the increase in carbon dioxide and other human emissions into the atmosphere. The majority of that warming has occurred in the past three or four decades.
Check out the map below (compiled by NOAA) for some of the significant global climate events of 2014.
More Information:
[1] Summary of the report: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/2014/12
[2] http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/decadaltemp.php
[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30852588
CLIMATE AND GEOHAZARDS 