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Continuing a trend of warm up over the past few years , NASAscientists say 2011 was the ninth warmest yr in price of ordinary spheric temperatures since 1980 .
In fact , nine of the10 warm yearsin the mod meteorologic disk have pass off since the twelvemonth 2000 .
This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on 12 March 2025.
The report was released today ( Feb. 24 ) by NASA ’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies ( GISS ) in New York , which monitor global Earth’s surface temperatures on an on-going basis . Average temperatures around the globe in 2011 were 0.92 degree Fahrenheit ( 0.51 degree Celsius ) fond than the baseline in the mid-20th century .
" We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting , " said GISS Director James Hansen . " So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures . Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Niña influence and low solar activity for the retiring several age , 2011 was one of the 10 warm age on record . "
fundamentally , humble solar bodily function means less warmth Department of Energy is reaching Earth , and if all other thing were equal , that would imply cooler temperature . However , a recent NASA reportreleased this month revealed this prolonged letup in the sun ’s action did not forestall the Earth from absorbing more solar vigour than it let escape back into space . These resultant role support greenhouse accelerator produced by human activities are the most authoritative driver ofglobal climate alteration , grant to the researchers go by Hansen .
Thesegreenhouse gases , in particular carbon dioxide , draw infrared radiation emitted by Earth and release that energy into the air rather than allowing it to escape to distance . Over time , as the gas absorption have increased and , in turn , more Energy Department gets trapped , the orb has seen higher temperature . This long - terminal figure GISS temperature record allow scientist to get a handle onglobal warming . Because of the large natural variability of mood , scientists do n’t expect temperatures to rise consistently year after class . However , they do expect a continue temperature rise over decades . And that ’s what they are finding : The deviation between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS phonograph recording , 2010 , is 0.22 degree F ( 0.12 degrees C ) . In addition , the record shew the first 11 years of the twenty-first century live notably high temperatures compared with the middle and recent twentieth century , Hansen said . The only year from the twentieth one C to make the leaning of top 10 affectionate years on record is 1998 .
The upshot number from weather datum compile at more than 1,000 meteorological stations around the world , satellite reflexion of ocean - surface temperature and Antarctic enquiry place measurements . Hansen aver he expects record - give way globular middling temperature in the next two to three yr , because solar activity is on the upswing and the next El Niño will increase temperature in the tropical Pacific Ocean . " It ’s always dangerous to make predictions about El Niño , but it ’s good to say we ’ll see one in the next three year , " Hansen said . " It wo n’t take a very strong El Niño to push temperatures above 2010 . "
