Global warming is still the topic
of much debate, but a short video posted recently by NASA is fairly
convincing. The 15-second animation, which was posted by NASA last week
and picked up on Tuesday by Co.Exist, shows a view of the
entire globe with an overlay that details climate change. NASA
scientists analyzed data collected over the past 63 years by 1,000
meteorological stations from around the world, and the animation they
compiled shows just how rapidly the Earth’s climate is changing.
The GIF is a consolidated version
of NASA’s full animation that helps illustrate just how drastic the
change has been since 1950. Temperatures in some regions have swung by
as much as 4 degrees Celsius in the past 60 years alone.
“Long-term trends in surface
temperatures are unusual and 2013 adds to the evidence for ongoing
climate change,” GISS climatologist Gavin Schmidt said with regard to
NASA’s findings. “While one year or one season can be affected by random
weather events, this analysis shows the necessity for continued,
long-term monitoring.”
According to the report, the
average global temperature in 2013 was 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s
1.1 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the mid-20th century baseline
temperature.
“Last year, when the concentration
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed levels of 400 parts per
million, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide reached a higher point
than it had at any time in the last 800,000 years,” Co.Exist’s Sydney Brownstone noted.
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