(Reuters] – The sixth-warmest year in recorded history was last year, causing extreme weather across the globe and adding evidence to support long-term climate change, according to a U.S. government agency analysis.

Officials said that data compiled jointly by NASA and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), revealed that the past eight years had been the hottest and that the last decade was among the warmest since 1880 when record-keeping started.

Global warming “very real.” In an interview, Gavin Schmidt, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies director, stated that global warming is “very real”. He said that global warming was responsible for last year’s severe heat wave in America, the intense rains caused by Hurricane Ida, and floods in Germany and China. .

According to the agencies, the global heat content in the oceans is a key indicator of climate changes. It reached an all-time high of 92 percent in 2021. More than 90% of heat that is trapped in earth’s atmosphere through greenhouse gases can be absorbed by oceans. This warm water has a significant impact on currents and weather patterns.

Schmidt stated that “what’s scientifically fascinating about it is that it tells us why our planet is heating up.” Our greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for the planet’s current warming.

NOAA reported that the average temperature in 2021 was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 Celsius) higher than the average for 20th-century temperatures, which puts it well ahead of 2018! NASA used a 30-year period to calculate 2021’s average temperatures. This was the sixth warmest year.

Both on the ground and in the Arctic, the Northern Hemisphere saw the greatest amount of warming. According to the agencies, the Arctic has been warming three times faster that the global average.

NOAA published an overview of the report it released earlier in the week. It stated that the United States had experienced the fourth-warmest year on record.