NASA report says 2017 is second hottest year on record

Jan 19, 2018 | Biz/Tech

This map shows Earth’s average global temperature from 2013 to 2017, as compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980, according to an analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Yellows, oranges, and reds show regions warmer than the baseline.
Credits: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

By: Bhakti Parikh

A recent National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) report recorded 2017 as one of the hottest years on record, almost positively reinforcing the generally accepted notion of climate change and global warming.

“If the effects of the recent El Niño and La Niña patterns were statistically removed from the record, 2017 would have been the warmest year on record,” the report reads.

Geoff Coulson, warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada, said greenhouse gases are one of the big contributors to the earth warming up.

“Environment Canada is encouraging people to be more aware of the greenhouse gas use,” he said. “In terms of the ability to slow down the climate change, people can be more careful in terms of use of gas, using more chemicals for construction, could be a few.”

With the growing energy demand, an imbalance is caused between the environment and economic development. The world attempts to gear up for the challenge by coming together under one roof and agree on reducing the GHG emissions.

“Understanding how the carbon cycle in these regions responded to El Niño will enable scientists to improve carbon cycle models, which should lead to improved predictions of how our planet may respond to similar conditions in the future,” said OCO-2 Deputy Project Scientist Annmarie Eldering of JPL, a division of NASA.

“The team is findings imply that if future climate brings more or longer droughts, as the last El Niño did, more carbon dioxide may remain in the atmosphere, leading to a tendency to further warm Earth.”

With the growing energy demand, an imbalance is caused between the environment and economic development.

In the last couple of years climate change and environmental issues have been the center stage on the international agenda.

Global greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, air pollution, sea level rise, usage of renewable resources and phasing out non-renewable resources are some of the key issues which have been raised at the international level.