2021 Tied for the Sixth Warmest Year on Record, NASA Finds

This color-coded map in Robinson projection displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies. Normal temperatures are shown in white. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are calculated over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. The final frame represents the 5 year global temperature anomalies from 2018-2022. NASA Reports 2022 Tied for 5th Warmest Year on Record, Continuing a TrendEarth s Earth science programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/earth This data visualization shows the 2022 global surface temperature anomaly compared with the 1951-1980 average. This data visualization shows only the 2022 global surface temperature anomalies on a rotating globe to highlight the La Niña. 2022 was one of the warmest on record despite a third consecutive year of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean. NASA scientists estimate that La Niña’s cooling influence may have lowered global temperatures about 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit from what the average would have been under more typical ocean conditions. Colortable is both degrees fahrenheit and degrees celsius. This image is the single year 2022 GISS temperature anomaly as compared with the 1951-1980 average. This version does not have any titles or text overlays, except for the corresponding colorbar. This frame sequence of color-coded global temperature anomalies in robinson projection display a progression of changing global surface temperatures anomalies in even degrees Fahrenheit. The first frame in this sequence represents the data from 1880-1884. The second frame represents 1881-1885, ...and the last frame represents 2018-2022. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. This sequence of images are the corresponding date overlays for the 5 year rolling averages used in the first visualization on this page. This frame sequence of color-coded global temperature anomalies in degrees celsius is designed to be displayed on the Science on a Sphere projection system. Each image represents a unique 5 year rolling time period with no fades between datasets. Frame 1884 represents data from 1880-1884, frame 1885 represents data from 1881-1885,... frame 2022 represents data from 2018-2022. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. This is the colorbar for the Science on a Sphere frameset above. It is in degrees celsius.

This color-coded map in Robinson projection displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies. Normal temperatures are shown in white. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are calculated over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. The final frame represents the 5 year global temperature anomalies from 2017-2021. Scale in degrees Fahrenheit. Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2021 tied with 2018 as the sixth warmest on record, according to independent analyses done by NASA and NOAA. Continuing the planet’s long-term warming trend, global temperatures in 2021 were 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (or 0.85 degrees Celsius) above the average for NASA’s baseline period, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.Collectively, the past eight years are the top eight warmest years since modern record keeping began in 1880. This annual temperature data makes up the global temperature record – and it’s how scientists know that the planet is warming.GISS is a NASA laboratory managed by the Earth Sciences Division of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.For more information about NASA’s Earth science missions, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/earth This data visualization shows the 2021 global surface temperature anomalies on a rotating globe to highlight the La Niña. La Niña has developed and is expected to last into early 2022. Despite the cooling influence of this naturally occurring climate phenomenon, temperatures in many parts of the world are above average. The year 2000 also saw a La Niña event of similar strength to that in 2021, but 2021 global temperatures was more than 0.75 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than 2000. This color-coded map in Robinson projection displays a progression of changing global surface temperature anomalies. Normal temperatures are shown in white. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are calculated over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. The final frame represents the 5 year global temperature anomalies from 2017-2021. Scale in degrees Celsius. This frame sequence is the corresponding date range for each frame in the sequence. Degrees Fahrenheit Colorbar Degrees Celsius Colorbar This frame sequence of color-coded global temperature anomalies in robinson projection display a progression of changing global surface temperatures anomalies in Fahrenheit. The first frame in this sequence represents the data from 1880-1884. The second frame represents 1881-1885, ...and the last frame represents 2017-2021. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. This frame sequence of color-coded global temperature anomalies in degrees celsius is designed to be displayed on the Science on a Sphere projection system. Each image represents a unique 5 year rolling time period with no fades between datasets. Frame 1884 represents data from 1880-1884, frame 1885 represents data from 1881-1885,... frame 2021 represents data from 2017-2021. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal are shown in blue. Normal temperatures are the average over the 30 year baseline period 1951-1980. This is the colorbar for the Science on a Sphere frameset above. It is in degrees celsius.

Timeplot of increase of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) concentrations relative to the pre-industrial CO2 long-term mean value of 278ppm. During 2021, atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached a record-level increase of 50% relative to pre-industrial CO2 levels. Using the complete record of Mauna Loa CO2 monthly mean data, the timeplot featured on this page displays the ongoing Keeling’s research and observations: the monthly average of atmospheric CO2 concentration values, which show the seasonal cycle of CO2 (jagged/wavy red line) and the seasonally-adjusted mean values (adjusted/straight red line). The jagged/wavy red line visualizes natural oscillations caused by plant growth cycles, while the adjusted/straight red line demonstrates the steady increase over time that is caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels. To illustrate the significance of the steady increase of atmospheric CO2 since 1958 and to provide a visual understanding of the monthly average CO2 values as they are measured in parts per million (ppm):Monthly CO2 values are plotted on the range of [0-500] ppm over the period of March 1958 to December 2021 (present).The pre-industrial CO22 average of 278 ppm is marked as an orange block.As time passes the monthly adjusted percent increase is calculated relative to the pre-industrial CO2 value of 278ppm and is shown next to a red arrow. As the timeline unfolds, we can see an increase growing from 13% in March 1958 to more than 50% in December 2021.In addition to highlighting the steady increase of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere, this timeplot underpins the historical contributions of the Keeling Curve to climate science, as it was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society in 2015. Continuous and precise observations across agencies and institutions are critical to help scientists and the public understand the linkages between increases in CO2 and human-caused climate change.The rest of this webpage offers a version of the timeplot with dark background, the Keeling Curve, as of December 2021 and data sources. Timeplot of increase of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) concentrations relative to the pre-industrial CO2 long-term mean value of 278ppm. During 2021, atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached a record-level increase of 50% relative to pre-industrial CO2 levels. This version is created with a dark background. Keeling Curve for the period March 1958-December 2021 (present). Monthly Carbon Dioxide (CO2) values are plotted on the range of [300-450]ppm. On December 2021, the seasonally-adjusted mean value of CO2 reached 417.41ppm. Data Sources:Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide by NOAA. The visualization featured on this page utilizes the complete record from the Mauna Loa CO2 monthly mean data for the period March 1958-December 2021 (accessed: January 7, 2022). Within the data record the continuous monthly average values are represented in the visualization as the jagged/wavy line that shows the seasonal cycle of CO2 and the monthly de-seasonalized mean values are represented in the visualization as the adjusted line.Citation: Dr. Pieter Tans, NOAA/GML (gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/) and Dr. Ralph Keeling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/).Citation: Keeling, Ralph F; Keeling, Charles D. (2017). Atmospheric Monthly In Situ CO2 Data - Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii (Archive 2021-09-07). In Scripps CO2 Program Data. UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. https://doi.org/10.6075/J08W3BHW

Weather stations currently used in the GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (v4). The size of the station markers is varied to reduce overplotting and is not indicative of any properties of that station. The weather stations used in the GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (v4). In this analysis only stations with reasonably long, consistently measured time records are used. 20,924 stations are shown in this visualization. For more information on the station data, please visit https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/station_data_v4_globe/. A map of the weather stations currently used in the GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (v4) in Robinson projection.