The subject of climate change has divided opinion over the last few years but you cannot argue with cold, or warm in the case, hard facts.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released data today revealing that 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded on earth.
It’s the third year in a row the record has been broken as the average temperature across the Earth’s land and oceans was 58.69 degrees which is 1.69 degrees above average.
2016 was a record in all surface data sets pic.twitter.com/25aQKrOQqb
— Gavin Schmidt (@ClimateOfGavin) January 18, 2017
The problem is partly man-made with the burning of substances that emit greenhouse gases causing the Earth’s temperature to rise significantly in the last century.
A natural El Nino, which causes unusually warm ocean temperatures, that released heat from the Pacific Ocean last year is also behind the high temperatures in 2016.
The effect of the soaring temperatures have been heat waves in Asia and the Middle East, wildfires in Canada, droughts in Bolivia, record low sea ice in the Arctic and coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef near Australia.
It’s a subject that we can’t afford to ignore anymore.
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