[h=3]NASA and NOAA Confirm that 2014 was the Warmest Year on Record [h=5]January 16, 2015; 3:58 PM ET
In a joint audio news conference today, both NASA and NOAA confirmed that 2014 was the warmest year on record for global land/ocean surface combined. Records go back to 1880.
This YouTube video shows a time series of five-year global temperature averages, mapped from 1880 to 2014, as estimated by scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
What is particularly impressive about this record is that it occurred during a non-El Nino year. According to NASA, the previous three record high years were associated with an El Nino, which has a natural warming influence on the planet.
NASA record
--Global surface temperature anomaly for 2014 was +0.68 degrees C. (+1.22 F.) The previous record was +0.66 deg C. set back in 2010. Temperatures are measured against the 1951-1980 average in the NASA database.
Global surface temperature anomalies in deg C. for the globe in 2014. Image courtesy of NASA GISS.
--Nine out of the top ten warmest years on record have occurred this century.
--2014 was also the warmest year on record for the Northern Hemisphere with a combined land/ocean surface temperature anomaly of +0.86 deg C. The old record was +0.85 deg C. set back in 2010.
--December 2014 was the second warmest December on record globally with a temperature anomaly of +0.72 deg C. The warmest December on record was +0.74 deg C. set in 2006.
December global temperature anomalies. Image courtesy of NASA GISS.
NOAA
--The 2014 global land/ocean surface temperature was +0.69 deg C. above the 20th century average, making it the warmest year on record going back to 1880. The previous record was +0.65 deg C. set back in 2005 and 2010.
--The global ocean surface was also the warmest on record since 1880. Images below courtesy of NOAA.
In terms of December 2014, the month was the warmest on record, averaging 0.77 deg C. above the 20th century average.
Other notes.....
--Both the Japanese and Berkeley Earth have also confirmed that 2014 was the warmest on record globally. The UKMET results will be released shortly.
--In terms of satellite measurements for the lower troposphere, 2014 was the 3rd warmest year on record according to the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) and 6th warmest according to Remote Sensing Systems (RSS). Records go back to 1979.
The satellite records still show that 1998 was the warmest year on record for the lower troposphere. That year was coming off of a strong El Nino. During a strong El Nino a lot of heat and moisture is released from the ocean to the lower and mid troposphere and this usually shows up much more with the satellite measurements compared to the surface measurements. Basically, what NASA was saying in their teleconference today is that the satellite measurements are much more sensitive to the impacts of El Nino compared to the surface based measurements. We did not have El Nino conditions in 2014 and thus it was not as warm as other years in the satellite record.
Some of the top climate scientists have emphasized that the year-to-year variations matter less than the background trend. This has been made clear by record-warm years that have happened over the past 15 years without the help of a strong El Nino.
Dr. Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University said with the margin of error it doesn't matter as much if 2014 was the warmest or second, third or sixth - what matters is that there is a "clear, consistent and incontrovertible" warming of Earth. (via the AP)