That means that it was the warmest August since 1880, when record keeping began.
Advertisement
The new record continues the streak of record high monthly temperatures that began almost a year ago.
The month took the top spot with global temperatures 0.16 degrees Celsius (0.29 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the previous warmest August, which was in 2014.
August has tied July for the distinction of being the hottest month since record-keeping began in 1880, NASA said in a release Monday.
Another month, another record temperature.
An increase in greenhouse-gas emissions and El Niño, a weather pattern that warms parts of the Pacific Ocean, has contributed to temperature increases in 2016, scientists said earlier this year.
Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in NY carried out their analysis by collating data from about 6,300 meteorological stations around the world, along with instruments that track sea surface temperatures and Antarctic research stations. “We stress that the long-term trends are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet”.
The monthly average temperature analysis conducted by the GISS team is based on publicly available records gathered by about 6,300 meteorological stations from all over the world, as well as from Antarctic research stations.
Advertisement
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will announce its own August data later this month. July saw temperatures 0.1 degrees Celsius (0.18 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than past warmest months July 2015, 2011 and 2009. This year is thought to have every chance of beating 2015, as the first six months of this year were all record warm. Last month he warned that the average temperature of Earth is rising at a pace “unprecedented in 1,000 years”.
