NASA: 2017 was second warmest year on record

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Global temperatures in 2017 were the second warmest on record since 1880, according to NASA.

Last year's temperatures were second only to 2016, which holds the record for the hottest year since 1880, when global estimates first started.

Earth's average temperatures in 2017 were 1.62 degrees warmer than the 1951 to 1990 mean, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

"Despite colder than average temperatures in any one part of the world, temperatures over the planet as a whole continue the rapid warming trend we've seen over the last 40 years," said Gavin Schmidt, GISS director.

Earth's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees during the last century, driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions, according to NASA.

Warming trends were strongest in the Arctic regions, where 2017 saw the continued loss of sea ice.

NASA's temperature analysis used surface temperature measurements from 6,300 weather stations and Antarctic research stations, and ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures.

In a separate, independent analysis, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration scientists found that 2017 was the third-warmest year in their record. The minor difference is due to the agencies using different methods to analyze global temperatures.

Both analyses show the five warmest years on record have all taken place since 2010.

Not every region on Earth experienced similar amounts of warming, but NOAA found the 2017 annual mean temperature for the contiguous 48 United States was the third warmest on record.

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