Is the Climate Warming?

Global Temperatures

Our current global temperature is on average (as of April 20th, 2021 when I checked NASA's website)

+0.85 ^o Celsius warmer than in the 1880's

To put that in perspective, average global temperatures don't fluctuate that widely. Look at the graph below and you can see that over the course of human history (last 10,000 years or so), we haven't seen this big a change.

In the animation in the above video, the Earth rides the "Global Temperature Anomaly," a rollercoaster that shows the difference from historic average temperature since the last ice age.  Not only is the current “hill” on the roller coaster as high or higher than anything our species has experienced since we first settled down from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, but it’s also the steepest climb. Compared to the past 11,000 years, the current track is nearly vertical.

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What Do a Few Degrees Matter?

A common question is whether the amount of global warming actually makes a difference.

Evidence for Global Warming

NASA has put together a great set of resources to examine the types of evidence showing that the earth's temperature has been rising dramatically.

• • Click on this link to  NASA's Climate Change, How Do We Know? 
  • Scroll down until you reach the section of the page titled ''Evidence for Rapid Climate Change is Compelling
•  
  • One at a time, click on the headings and use that information to answer the questions in the quiz: 
    • Global Temperature is Rising
    • The Ocean is Getting Warmer
    • The Ice Sheets are Shrinking
    • Glaciers are Retreating
    • Snow Cover is Decreasing
    • Sea Level is Rising
    • Arctic Sea Ice is Declining
    • Extreme Events are Increasing
    • Ocean Acidification is Increasing