It's getting a little toastier around these parts. NASA file photo
Agencies: 2014 Was the Hottest Year on Record
NOAA and NASA climate scientists say the measurements provide further evidence of global warming.
2014 was the hottest year on record, according to data released Friday by NASA and NOAA.
The Earth's average global temperature ranked as the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880.
According to NASA and NOAA, 9 of the 10 hottest years on record have now taken place since 2000. The only exception to this trend was 1998, which also clocks in as one of the 10 warmest years recorded.
Climate scientists say the measurements provide further evidence of global warming, a change in Earth's climate brought about in part due to human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
"This is the latest in a series of warm years, in a series of warm decades. While the ranking of individual years can be affected by chaotic weather patterns, the long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases," said Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies.
In the past century, the Earth's average temperature has risen by roughly 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, and scientists predict that the planet is on track to see temperatures tick up by several more degrees in the course of the next 100 years.
Scientists report that as global warming intensifies, so too will the frequency of extreme weather events, including hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, and heat waves.