Image shows higher temperatures in NASA and NOAA data summarizing global climate change.
Now it’s official: the 2018th is the fourth hottest year in the entire history of observations.
At the end of each year, a report is compiled that compares the independent global temperature measurements of the two agencies with historical data. Data sets are obtained from ground stations around the world. However, the test is carried out thanks to the satellites that provide additional information about the climate.
All figures say one thing: 2018 was hotter than any year between 1880-2014. In the historical records appear only three years, which were warmer. It is not unusual that annual changes confirm the overall picture of warming. For example, the apparent cooling is noticeable in 2016-2018.
The temperature range presented is reminiscent of an escalator climb, followed by sharp jumps up and down. Both new analyzes are based solely on data collected from ground stations, which makes it possible to obtain a long continuous series of coincident measurements before 1880 (there were no satellites at that time).
New information was compared with information from the AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, which has been operating in orbit since 2002. This comparison confirmed the main findings of the analysis, but scientists are particularly concerned about the findings of warming in the Arctic.
The fact is that satellite readings show greater heating of the Arctic than is fixed by ground stations. Aqua is one of a group of climatic satellites of the A-Train family that study a number of climate variables (not only temperature, but also humidity and cloudiness). This information allows us to round out the overall climate picture.
