Complete Transcript

Narration: Dr. Katherine Calvin

Transcript:

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2022 was an extraordinary year.

We traveled to the Moon again

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for the first time in half a

century. We made history with

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the James Webb Space Telescope,

seeing deeper into the universe

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than ever before. And those same

folks exploring outward are also

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the same people looking inward

toward Earth. So what did we see

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this past year? A lot.

Scientists around the world

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determined that greenhouse gas

emissions that drive climate

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change once again set new

records. In July, we sent a new

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instrument called EMIT to the

International Space Station.

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EMIT can identify 'super

emitters' of methane, a powerful

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greenhouse gas coming from

pipelines, landfills and other

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sources. And it's already

recorded super plumes all over

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the world, including in

Turkmenistan, Iran, and New

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Mexico. Methane, carbon dioxide

and other greenhouse gases trap

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heat in the climate system and

cause rising global surface

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temperatures. 2022 effectively

tied for Earth's fifth warmest

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year since 1880. And the last

nine consecutive years have been

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the warmest nine on record. And

all that heat expressed itself

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differently across the globe

this year. Most of the extra

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heat in the climate system

builds up in the ocean and 2022

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set new records for ocean heat,

in independent NOAA and NASA

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analysis. This increased ocean

heat can fuel intense tropical

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storms like we saw in September

with Hurricane Ian. Ian rapidly

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intensified from a tropical

storm into a category four in

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under 24 hours and became one of

the costliest storms to ever hit

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the US. As the climate system

warms, the atmosphere holds more

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moisture, resulting in more

intense heavy downpours.

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From June through September,

Pakistan saw some of the worst

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flooding in a decade due to

prolonged and intense monsoon

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rains, leaving behind a

devastated community.

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Increasing heat not only leads

to more water in the atmosphere

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and heavier downpours, but it

also exacerbates soil moisture

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loss and drought. Which is what

we saw in the American west as

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it experienced ongoing droughts

in 2022, leading to vital water

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reservoirs like Lake Mead and

Lake Powell dropping to just 27%

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of capacity. Drier and warmer

conditions mean there's more

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fuel and opportunities for

fires. In January during a

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longstanding heatwave and

drought, the Corrientes province

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in Argentina saw over 1000

fires. It devastated important

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wetlands in Ibera National Park

and vital surrounding farmland.

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But there is hope looking ahead.

In addition to monitoring Earth,

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NASA is powering solutions with

free and open data like OpenET a

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tool for farmers and other

resource managers to plan and

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implement irrigation and water

use in a warming world. NASA

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know-how is also helping

firefighters and forest managers

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prevent future fire hazards by

better controlling airspace

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during prescribed burns and

emergency response. As we've

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seen a warming climate impacts

all of us and it's going to take

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all of us to combat it. As we

look back at 2022 and years

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past, we see that each year we

better understand the challenges

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we face and how important it is

to meet them.