Scientists have declared that 2014 was officially the hottest year on record since records began in 1891.
The temperature data just released by the Japan Meteorological Association (JMA), one of the four major global temperature record-keepers to do so.
The JMA is one of four major government agencies worldwide keeping track of global temperature trends.
The others are NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, as well as the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom.
All four agencies analyse the data slightly differently, NASA, for instance, ranks 2010 and 2005 as hotter than 1998, but they all show the same upward trend over time.
JMA’s preliminary data indicate that 2014’s global average surface temperature was the warmest since 1891, the start of the data.
Specifically, it was 0.27 degrees Celsius greater than that of the period from 1981 to 2010.
With 2014 in the lead, the second hottest year on record is now 1998.
Both 2013 and 2010 are tied for third, while 2005 is tied for fifth.
All 10 of the hottest years on record have come after 1998, which many scientists attribute to global warming, according to Scientific American.
In 2014, several regions in the world smashed their heat records.
California hit record-high temperatures, inducing one of the worst drought’s in history.
According to JMA, much of the continental United States was actually a bit cooler than usual in 2014, at least, compared with the climate from 1980-2010.
On the flip side, this year saw record warmth in Europe as well as record heat over most of the Pacific Ocean and Australia also hit unprecedented high temperatures in January.
Climate scientists expect the Earth to get hotter over time so long as humans keep adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
There are lots of short-term variations here and there, for instance, El Niño years like 1998 tend to be a bit hotter, while La Niña years are a bit cooler, so not every year will necessarily set heat records.
However, there seems little doubt that the overall trend is up.
