Each year, scientists at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies analyze global temperature data. A rapid warming trend has occurred over the past 30 years, and the eight hottest years on the GISS record have occurred in the past decade. 2005 is the hottest year on record, and 2007 is tied with 1998 for second place. The Earth is experiencing the warmest level of the current interglacial period, or interval between ice ages, which has lasted nearly 12,000 years. This color-coded map displays a long term progression of changing global surface temperatures, from 1881 to 2007. Dark red indicates the greatest warming and dark blue indicates the greatest cooling.
Please give credit for this item to: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Data provided by Robert B. Schmunk (NASA/GSFC GISS)
GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation:
Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0