2018, a really hot year

2018 was the fourth warmest year ever recorded on the planet since data was available, starting in 1880. Global temperatures exceeded the average recorded between 1951 and 1980 by 0.83 degrees, making last year be classified just behind the "hot" 2016, 2017 and 2015. Taken together, the last 5 years were by far the hottest of the modern era. Thanks to the data of NASA and the US agency for research on the atmosphere and the oceans, we can now certify this situation.

«2018 is once again an extremely hot year, on top of a long-term global warming trend» explains Gavin Schmidt, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) director. In 2018 the Arctic regions suffered a continuous loss of ice. Starting from 1880, adds the expert, the average global temperature rose by about 1 degree: the phenomenon is largely due to the increase in carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gases produced by human activities.

The loss of mass of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica has continued to contribute to sea level rise, Schmidt recalls, while the increase in temperatures contributes to make longer the seasons of fires and generating extreme atmospheric events. According to the data of Nasa and Noaa, 18 of the hottest 19 years of history have followed one another since 2001. This shows that global warming is no longer a future prospect, but something already tangible today. «The effects of global warming on the long term are already felt: in floods, heat waves, heavy rainfall and changes in the ecosystem» explains Schmidt.