WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.793
Hi. My name is Doctor Kate Calvin.

2
00:00:01.793 --> 00:00:04.796
I'm NASA's Chief Scientist and Senior
Climate Advisor.

3
00:00:04.921 --> 00:00:06.965
And I'm going to answer
some of the top questions

4
00:00:06.965 --> 00:00:09.968
that we're getting from users
like you about climate

5
00:00:11.136 --> 00:00:13.888
This May was the hottest May on record.

6
00:00:13.888 --> 00:00:18.518
So we've had now 12 consecutive record
breaking months of heat.

7
00:00:18.852 --> 00:00:21.563
That means for the last year,
every month has been

8
00:00:21.563 --> 00:00:24.566
the hottest of that month on record.

9
00:00:25.025 --> 00:00:27.068
so May was the hottest May on record.

10
00:00:27.068 --> 00:00:29.738
2023 was the hottest year on record.

11
00:00:29.738 --> 00:00:35.243
We're also seeing other changes
in in ecosystems all around the world.

12
00:00:35.243 --> 00:00:37.787
So we're seeing changes in precipitation
patterns.

13
00:00:37.787 --> 00:00:40.790
We see more heavy precipitation
in some regions.

14
00:00:40.790 --> 00:00:42.125
We see more droughts.

15
00:00:42.125 --> 00:00:43.793
We're seeing declines in ice,

16
00:00:43.793 --> 00:00:47.547
both Arctic sea ice as well as changes
in the mass of ice sheets.

17
00:00:47.839 --> 00:00:51.426
We are seeing increases in sea level
that affect coastal communities

18
00:00:51.426 --> 00:00:54.345
all around the world,
and we're seeing all of these changes.

19
00:00:54.345 --> 00:00:56.681
We can observe them through surface
measurements,

20
00:00:56.681 --> 00:00:58.600
we can see them through satellite

21
00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:02.604
based measurements, and we can see how the
Earth is changing over time.

22
00:01:04.481 --> 00:01:04.898
So what

23
00:01:04.898 --> 00:01:08.651
we mean by that is that May
is the hottest May on record.

24
00:01:08.651 --> 00:01:11.529
April was the hottest April on record.

25
00:01:11.529 --> 00:01:13.156
There is still a seasonal cycle.

26
00:01:13.156 --> 00:01:16.868
But what we're saying is that
that winters are getting hotter

27
00:01:16.868 --> 00:01:20.080
than anything we've experienced,
that we've recorded before.

28
00:01:20.080 --> 00:01:23.583
Summers are hotter than what
we've recorded before, and so that each

29
00:01:23.583 --> 00:01:28.421
individual month is, respectively,
the hottest of that month on record.

30
00:01:29.589 --> 00:01:31.466
Not necessarily.

31
00:01:31.466 --> 00:01:31.800
So we're

32
00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:35.637
seeing an overall trend in warming,
but we might still see individual years

33
00:01:35.637 --> 00:01:37.972
that are hotter
or cooler than the previous,

34
00:01:37.972 --> 00:01:41.601
and individual months that are hotter
or cooler than the previous month.

35
00:01:41.601 --> 00:01:44.312
So we are seeing
an overall trend in warming,

36
00:01:44.312 --> 00:01:47.649
but that doesn't necessarily mean
every single month will be the hottest.

37
00:01:50.485 --> 00:01:52.320
El Nino is a natural cycle

38
00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:55.865
that affects temperatures
and and weather around the world.

39
00:01:56.199 --> 00:02:00.411
El Nino years
tend to be warmer on average than others.

40
00:02:00.578 --> 00:02:03.581
La Nina years
tend to be cooler on average.

41
00:02:03.623 --> 00:02:07.794
But with climate change, what we're seeing
is an overall trend in warming.

42
00:02:07.794 --> 00:02:12.924
So our La Nina years are also getting
warmer, as well as our El Nino years.

43
00:02:13.091 --> 00:02:16.302
And so we see an overall trend in warming,
but we're still seeing

44
00:02:16.302 --> 00:02:19.556
individual years that are warmer
or cooler than the previous year

45
00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:22.642
because of El Nino and La Nina.

46
00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:26.104
Well, we know what's
driving the warming on our planet.

47
00:02:26.104 --> 00:02:29.107
We know it's driven
by increases in greenhouse gases.

48
00:02:29.190 --> 00:02:31.776
We also know, how to limit warming.

49
00:02:31.776 --> 00:02:35.655
So we know that by reducing greenhouse
gases we can reduce the rate of warming.

50
00:02:35.822 --> 00:02:40.076
And there are options available today
that can help us reduce greenhouse gases.

51
00:02:40.410 --> 00:02:42.704
There's also people all around the world

52
00:02:42.704 --> 00:02:46.541
that are working to better understand
our planet, and to develop technologies

53
00:02:46.541 --> 00:02:47.250
and understanding

54
00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:50.253
that can help us address the changes
that are happening where I live.

55
00:02:50.378 --> 00:02:52.964
And there's people like you
that are learning about this now

56
00:02:52.964 --> 00:02:54.257
and can help us in the future.