Climate Change | world temperature
Yearlysurfacetemperaturecomparedtothe20th-centuryaveragefrom1880–2022.Bluebarsindicatecooler-than-averageyears;redbarsshowwarmer-than-averageyears.NOAAClimate.govgraph,basedondata[1]fromtheNationalCentersforEnvironmentalInformation.Giventhetremendoussizeandheatcapacityoftheglobaloceans,ittakesamassiveamountofheatenergytoraiseEarth’saverageyearlysurfacetemperatureevenasmallamount.Theroughly2-degreeFahrenheit(1degreesCelsius)increaseinglobalaveragesurfacetemperaturethathasoccurredsincethepre-i...
Yearly surface temperature compared to the 20th-century average from 1880–2022. Blue bars indicate cooler-than-average years; red bars show warmer-than-average years. NOAA Climate.gov graph, based on data[1] from the National Centers for Environmental Information.
Given the tremendous size and heat capacity of the global oceans, it takes a massive amount of heat energy to raise Earth’s average yearly surface temperature even a small amount. The roughly 2-degree Fahrenheit (1 degrees Celsius) increase in global average surface temperature that has occurred since the pre-industrial era (1880-1900) might seem small, but it means a significant increase in accumulated heat.
That extra heat is driving regional and seasonal temperature extremes[2], reducing snow cover[3] and sea ice[4], intensifying heavy rainfall,[5] and changing habitat ranges for plants[6] and animals[7]—expanding some and shrinking others. As the map below shows, most land a...