NASA reported that 2022 was the fifth warmest year on record, while the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that 2022 was the sixth warmest year on record.
“The last eight years have clearly been warmer than the years before,” said NOAA analysis branch chief Russ Vose, according to NBC affiliate WCAU.
Here’s what they found.
What was reported: NASA’s Earth Observatory reported that the average temperature of the Earth’s surface in 2022 was tied with the temperatures found in 2015, making both of those years tied for fifth place as the warmest year on record.
The map used to report this data did not show the absolute temperatures that the Earth faced this year, but instead showed the different warm and cool regions of the Earth during the last year.
CBS affiliate KBTX reported that NOAA found 2022 to be the sixth-warmest year on record, and that the ten hottest years on record have all been since 2010, despite having records of climate since 1880.
What has been said: “The reason for the warming trend is that human activities continue to pump enormous amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and the long-term planetary impacts will also continue,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of GISS, NASA’s leading center for climate modeling.
The Associated Press reported that Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator, said that this trend is “pretty alarming.”
“What we’re seeing is our warming climate, it’s warning all of us. Forest fires are intensifying. Hurricanes are getting stronger. Droughts are wreaking havoc. Sea levels are rising. Extreme weather patterns threaten our well-being across this planet,” Nelson said.
Details to note: WCAU reported that a nonprofit group of independent scientists, Berkeley Earth, found that 28 countries — including China, the U.K., Spain, France, Germany and New Zealand — all experienced their hottest year to date in 2022.
What years have been hotter: Fortune reported that 2022 was hotter than 2021, and the last eight years have each been hotter than the year before.
Globally, the warmest years have been 2016, 2020, 2019, 2017 and 2022, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.