What is the average temperature on earth

In , no places on Earth experienced a record cold annual average. Land areas generally show more than twice as much warming as the ocean. When compared to the averages, the land average in has increased 1. As already noted, was the warmest year on land. For the ocean surface, we find that nominally ranks as the 4 th warmest year. However, the differences between the 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th warmest years in the ocean are small compared to the measurement uncertainty, meaning they are all hard to distinguish.

The following figure shows land and ocean temperature changes relative to the average from to The tendency for land averages to increase more quickly than ocean averages is clearly visible. This is consistent with the process known as Arctic amplification. By melting sea ice and decreasing snow cover, warming in the Arctic regions causes more sunlight to be absorbed, which allows for yet more warming.

As has been reported by the Global Carbon Project and other observers, saw a new record for the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is due to the continued accumulation of carbon dioxide from human activities. However, the annual amount of carbon dioxide emitted in was 6. Without this cooling, more than 0. Though the focus of our work is on global and regional climate analysis, it is also possible to use our data to estimate national temperature trends.

In addition, it was also the warmest year thus far observed for both the continental averages of Europe and Asia, and effectively tied for the warmest in South America. The following chart provides a summary of the warming that countries experienced in relative to averages. These estimates for the changes in national annual average temperatures are derived from our global temperature fields.

Due to uncertainties in the analysis and the limits of our spatial resolution some national average estimates may differ slightly from the values reported by national weather agencies. The weather conditions in Russia during were particularly extreme and worthy of extra attention.

This broke the previous record for warmest year in Russia by a staggering 1. It is extremely unusual for large-scale annual-average temperature records to be broken by such a large margin. In this case, much of the effect can be associated with extraordinary warm weather patterns over Siberia. The extraordinary warmth in Siberia led to permafrost thawing and caused unanticipated disruptions. With anomalous warmth extending into the areas of the Arctic Ocean adjacent to Siberia, it also led to a record-smashing three and a half months of traversable open ocean along the Northern Sea Route Northeast Passage within the Arctic.

Prior to the year , open ocean passages in the Arctic rarely formed. These effects are related to the phenomenon known as Arctic Amplification, whereby changes in snow and sea ice cover cause the Arctic to warm faster than other regions of the globe. However, even so, the weather pattern observed in was more severe than generally expected.

The level of warmth observed this year in Siberia is not expected to become common until the latter half of the century. Every month in was at least 1. Prior to October, no month ranked lower than 4th; however, October ranked 5th and December ranked 7th. By continuing this trend, we can make a rough guess of how the near-future climate may develop if the forces driving global warming continue at their present rate.

That would put the planet's average surface temperature in at According to the World Meteorological Organization, the coldest place on Earth is Vostok Station in Antarctica , where it reached minus The coldest inhabited place is Oymyakon, Russia, a small village in Siberia, where it dips down to an average of minus 49 F minus 45 C and once hit a low of minus Which location holds the record as the hottest place on Earth is a matter of some contention.

El Azizia, Libya, held the top hot spot for 90 years. Temperatures allegedly climbed to But the World Meteorological Organization stripped the town southwest of Tripoli of that distinction in A committee of climate experts from nine countries concluded that the temperature had been documented in error by an inexperienced observer.

But even that distinction depends on what is being measured. Death Valley's record is for the highest air temperature. A higher surface temperature of Source: World Meteorological Organization. There is considerable uncertainty about how warm Earth will get in the coming decades, as climate change is complex. It depends on a variety of factors, including how quickly the ice melts in the Arctic and Antarctic, how the ocean will respond to warmer temperatures, and how the atmosphere will shift wind directions.

Exceptionally cold winters in one region might be followed by exceptionally warm summers. Or a cold winter in one area might be balanced by an extremely warm winter in another part of the globe. Generally, warming is greater over land than over the oceans because water is slower to absorb and release heat thermal inertia. Warming may also differ substantially within specific land masses and ocean basins. In the global maps at the top of this page, the years from to tend to appear cooler more blues than reds , growing less cool into the s.

Decades within the base period do not appear particularly warm or cold because they are the standard against which all decades are measured. The leveling off between the s and s may be explained by natural variability and possibly by the cooling effects of some aerosols generated by the rapid economic growth after World War II.

Fossil fuel use also increased in the post-War era 5 percent per year , boosting greenhouse gases. But aerosol cooling is more immediate, while greenhouse gases accumulate slowly and take much longer to leave the atmosphere. The strong warming trend of the past four decades likely reflects a shift from comparable aerosol and greenhouse gas effects to a predominance of greenhouse gases, as aerosols were curbed by pollution controls, according to former GISS director Jim Hansen.

EO Explorer. References Hansen, J. Global surface temperature change.