Nation & World

Interactive: Data shows steady warm-up leading to record Earth heat in 2015

Bee Staff
Scientists cite greenhouse gas emissions, such as these emanating from a coal-fired power plant in Beijing, as a factor in the steady climb of the Earth’s temperature, an increase that set a new record in 2015.
Scientists cite greenhouse gas emissions, such as these emanating from a coal-fired power plant in Beijing, as a factor in the steady climb of the Earth’s temperature, an increase that set a new record in 2015. Andy Wong AP

According to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2015 was the hottest year the Earth has seen since record keeping began in 1880. Scientists cite a number of factors as being responsible, including the current El Niño season and the continued emission of greenhouse gasses.

Below are visualizations showing the global land and sea temperature anomalies for all recorded years, and showing public polling on the matter of global warming.

Data curated by WeatherDB
Data curated by WeatherDB

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Interactive: Data shows steady warm-up leading to record Earth heat in 2015."

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