Yet Another Record Breaking Hot Year 'Does Not Bode Well for Civilisation' Says NASA

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Scientists confirmed this week that 2014 was the hottest year on record with global temperatures undermining claims from climate deniers that global warming is not a serious threat toย civilisation.

Both NOAA and NASA have confirmed last year was the hottest year since the invention of the thermometer; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says temperatures are 1.24F (0.69C) higher than the 20th century average while NASA calculates that 2014โ€™s average temperature was 14.67C, or 0.68C above theย average.

The results undermine leading climate denial groups, including Lord Nigel Lawson’s Global Warming Policy Foundation, who claim that an apparent plateau in global earth surface temperatures is direct proof that global warming has been widelyย exaggerated.

โ€œ2014 wasn’t just the hottest year on record but also the 38thย year in a row with temperatures higher than the 20th century average,โ€ said Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK.

He continued: โ€œThe worldโ€™s climate scientists, in one of the most carefully compiled and reviewed documents in scientific history, claim that this trend is man-made, and that weโ€™re heading for a 4 or 5 degree increase this century unless we changeย course.

โ€œIt’s time we stopped debating whether climate change is really happening, and focused people’s energy, expertise, and ideas on finding the best ways to preventย it.โ€

Long-termย Trend

Gavin Schmidt, director of NASAโ€™s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, told the Guardian: โ€œAny one year being a record warm one is not in itself particularly significant, but this is one in a series of record warm years that are driven by the continuing underlying long-term globalย warming.

โ€œWe expect that heat records will continue to get broken โ€“ not everywhere and not every year โ€“ but increasingly, and that does not bode well for a civilisation that is continuing to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere at an increasingย rate.โ€

โ€œIt is not just 2014, but the long-term trend, so we may anticipate further records in the years to come,โ€ Schmidtย added.

Nasa released a video this week in which Schmidt blamed changing weather patterns on human activity, and in particular the burning of fossil fuels and its impact on theย atmosphere.

If this doesnโ€™t stop, stated Schmidt: โ€œthen we will continue to see more warming and records beingย broken.โ€

The results continue a worrying trend with 2014 being the 38th consecutive year of above-averageย temperatures.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency issued results last month that predicted 2014 to be the hottest year, alongside the UKโ€™s Met Weather Agency and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

@richardheasman4

Photo: Liam Moloney via Creativeย Commoms

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Richard Heasman joined DeSmog UK as a contributing journalist in October 2014. Originally from Stamford, he graduated with an undergraduate history degree (2:1) in 2013 from the University of Lincoln. His dissertation focused on the British mediaโ€™s role in shaping public opinion during the second Gulf War ofย 2003.

After graduating, Richard started his own online publication specialising in political-socio critiques, and now specialises in environmental topics including fracking andย industry.

Richard has been published in the Ecologist as has reported for Blue and Green Tomorrow on a varied range of environmentalย issues.

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