COLUMBUS, Ohio — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently released their annual assessment of global temperatures from this past year.
The results show that, globally, we ranked in the top six hottest years tied with 2018. Along with the record heat, 2021 was a year of weather extremes from the historic late-season wildfires outside Denver, to the tornado outbreak in the Midwest, and the first ever rainfall recorded on the Greenland icecap.
Since recordkeeping began in 1880, NASA and NOAA have found the past eight years to be the warmest. This trend of warming has scientists concerned about the state of our planet.
"Right now we are seeing the temperatures are already increasing, we are seeing a lot of extreme events and we want people to realize we are living it now," said NASA Oceanographer Bridget Seegers.
With the warmer temperatures comes more evaporation which can lead to more storms or even more drought.
NASA’s satellites have been extremely helpful in monitoring these extreme weather events and changes in our world. Bridget Seegers says, “Something like the Landsat Mission, one of these long missions going back 50 years, where you can actually watch how the planet has changed so you can watch the glaciers melt and you can see lakes dry up”.
You can learn more about their next mission, PACE, here.
