Blistering heat blanketed the Earth last year like never before, making 2015 by far the hottest year in modern times and raising new concerns about the accelerating pace of climate change.
Not only was 2015 the warmest worldwide since 1880, it shattered the previous record held in 2014 by the widest margin ever observed, says the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
People play beach tennis (matkot), on the beach in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, on a hot summer day. August 01, 2015. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
“During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average,” says the NOAA report.
“This was the highest among all years in the 1880-2015 record.”
Compared to 2014, last year was 0.29 Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius) warmer, the “largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken.”
The US space agency NASA, which monitors global climate using a fleet of satellites and weather stations, confirms that last year broke records for heat in contemporary times.
— AFP
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