Nasa has revealed a 30-second animation showing 135 years of the world's global warming, after revealing its long awaited global warming report for 2015.
The short video illustrates the change in temperatures by using an orange coloured graphic which increases in density as the years go by.
Findings from the research show that 2015 was the warmest year since modern record-keeping began in 1880.
This color-coded map displays the above progression of changing global surface temperatures anomalies from 1880 through 2013
The record-breaking year continues a long-term warming trend — 15 of the 16 warmest years on record have now occurred since 2001.
“Climate change is the challenge of our generation, and NASA’s vital work on this important issue affects every person on Earth,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Today’s announcement not only underscores how critical NASA’s Earth observation program is, it is a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice - now is the time to act on climate.”
The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.0 degree Celsius) since the late-19th century, a change largely driven by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere, according to the research.
The study also looked into natural phenomena such as El Niño or La Niña, which warm or cool the tropical Pacific Ocean, and can contribute to short-term variations in global average temperature. It noted that an El Niño warming was in effect for most of 2015.
“2015 was remarkable even in the context of the ongoing El Niño,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt. “Last year’s temperatures had an assist from El Niño, but it is the cumulative effect of the long-term trend that has resulted in the record warming that we are seeing.”
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Nasa has released the video in line with its analysis tools to better illustrate how our planet is changing.
The full 2015 surface temperature data set and the complete methodology used to make the temperature calculation are available here.