Earth's surface temperature rise: NASA
Even as climate change sceptics rubbish rising global temperature, a latest report by US-based Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has said that Earth's global surface temperature in 2017 ranked as the second warmest since 1880 when global estimates became feasible.
It also stressed that if the effects of the "recent El Niño and La Niña patterns were statistically removed from the record, 2017 would have been the warmest year on record."
But this is not where the worrying trend ends as the analysis also emphasises that with this continues a decades-long warming trend-17 of the 18 warmest years have now occurred since 2001. "Continuing the planet's long-term warming trend, globally averaged temperatures in 2017 were 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean," said the analysis released on Thursday by Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, while adding that it is second only to global temperatures in 2016. As per the analysis, Earth's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (a little more than 1 degree Celsius) during the last century or so, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.
"Last year was the third consecutive year in which global temperatures were more than 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) above late nineteenthcentury levels," it added.
The analysis is significant for policymakers because as per Nasa rising global temperatures are already creating impacts around the world.
For a country like India which has a vast coastline of about 7500 km inhabited by millions, the rising sea level means trouble. India's major cities like Mumbai, which is called country's financial capital, and Kolkata are among the top 10 megacities across the world that face a serious threat due to rising sea levels.
It had said that India has 55 million inhabitants endangered by 4°C warming by end of year 2100, while 20 million are at risk from 2°C warming. As any as 11 million people are at risk in Mumbai alone if the global temperature rises by 4°C and 5.8 million in case of 2°C.