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2024 warmest year on record: NASA scientists

The scientists at the American space agency, NASA, based on an analysis confirmed that Earth's average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record

Sunday January 12, 2025 5:16 PM, ummid.com News Network

2024 warmest year on record: NASA scientists

[Representative image]

Washington: The scientists at the American space agency, NASA, based on an analysis confirmed that Earth's average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record.

Global temperatures in 2024 were 2.30 degrees Fahrenheit (1.28 degrees Celsius) above the agency's 20th-century baseline (1951-1980), which tops the record set in 2023.

The new record comes after 15 consecutive months (June 2023 through August 2024) of monthly temperature records — an unprecedented heat streak, the NASA scientists said.

"Once again, the temperature record has been shattered — 2024 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

"Between record breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California, it has never been more important to understand our changing planet", Nelson said.

Average temperatures in 2024

NASA scientists further estimate Earth in 2024 was about 2.65 degrees Fahrenheit (1.47 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-19th century average (1850-1900).

For more than half of 2024, average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the baseline, and the annual average, with mathematical uncertainties, may have exceeded the level for the first time, the NASA scientists said.

"The Paris Agreement on climate change sets forth efforts to remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius over the long term. To put that in perspective, temperatures during the warm periods on Earth three million years ago — when sea levels were dozens of feet higher than today — were only around 3 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, assing, "We are halfway to Pliocene-level warmth in just 150 years."

Why so much heat?

Scientists have concluded the warming trend of recent decades is driven by heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.

In 2022 and 2023, Earth saw record increases in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, according to a recent international analysis.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from pre-industrial levels in the 18th century of approximately 278 parts per million to about 420 parts per million today.

The temperatures of individual years can be influenced by natural climate fluctuations such as El Niño and La Niña, which alternately warm and cool the tropical Pacific Ocean. The strong El Niño that began in fall 2023 helped nudge global temperatures above previous records, the NASA scientists said.

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