Well, according to NASA's
records, 2022 is tied for the fifth warmest on record.
And collectively,
the last nine years have been the warmest since modern recordkeeping began.
Temperatures in 2022 were about 1.1 degrees Celsius
or about 2 degrees Fahrenheit above the late 19th century average.
And while that may sound like a small number, just small changes
in temperature can have big impacts around the world.
So what we see with with climate change,
with the temperatures that we're already experiencing,
this 1.1 degrees Celsius or 2 degrees Fahrenheit, we're already seeing impacts.
So we see declines in the extent and mass of Arctic sea ice.
We see increases in sea level and we see more extreme events
like heatwaves and wildfires, more changes in precipitation patterns
that lead to more droughts and floods and heavy precipitation events.
So we're seeing these these changes
in our Earth system already driven by climate change.
So we
use the vantage point of space to observe the Earth from space.
We can see all of the Earth and we can measure different things.
So each of our satellites is designed to measure something different
about the planet.
And so what we can see are things like vegetation, changes in the massive ice
sheets, clouds and precipitation, carbon dioxide and much more.
And we've been observing the planet for decades.
So we can see
not just the state of the Earth today, but also how it's changed over time.
The most recent satellite we launched, SWOT, which NASA launched
in December, shows us surface water and ocean topography.
So it can, it's going to be able to tell us
how much water is running through rivers and lakes
and also give us more information about ocean circulation.
And oceans play a really important role in climate change in that they absorb
a lot of heat and carbon and so will give us more information
about their potential to do so in the future.
So what we're seeing is increases in temperatures have continued.
So over the last nine years, the warmest since modern recordkeeping began.
We know that the changes
that we've experienced so far are driven by greenhouse gases from human activity.
And what science tells us is that future warming will depend on future emissions.
And if temperatures continue to rise, we'll see more of these impacts
and extreme events that we're experiencing today.
So more heatwaves, more wildfires, more droughts and heavy precipitation
events in the future with more warming.
So 2022 is what scientists and meteorologists call a La Niña year.
And in general, La Niña years are cooler than average.
But 2022 is still tied for the fifth warmest
and among the nine warmest years on record because of climate change.
So we are seeing increases in temperature now that
continue into the future.
NASA.gov slash earth.