January 16, 2015

Observations of global temperature going back to 1880 reveal that our planet's temperature is rising. This animation shows maps of yearly temperature compared to the 1981-2010 average from the start of the historical record through 2014–the wamrest year on record. Each year's map is synced with a graph showing the evolution of our planet's temperature as compared to the 20th-century average.

Earth’s surface temperature in 2014 was the warmest on record. Five months set new records for warmth, and a sixth tied for record warmest. The 20 warmest years in the historical record have all occurred in the past 20 years.