Officially, the year 2020 has been classified as the second warmest (hottest) year on the planet, according to a report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is concerned with oceanography, weather and climate related to the atmosphere.

The report, released on January 14, indicates that the average global surface temperature of 2020 was the second highest since record keeping began in 1880.

This summary from the National Environmental Information Centers is part of a suite of climate services that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides to the government, companies, academia and the public to support informed decision-making.

2020 year

The record of temperature information dates back to the year 1850 when it was based on a systematic thermometer, and the global temperature record shows the fluctuations of the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans over different time periods.

2020 marks the 44th year in a row (since 1977) with temperatures above the 20th century average, and this was the second highest among all years on a record of 1880-2020.

The annual global temperature has increased at an average rate of +0.08 ° C per decade since 1880, however, since 1981 the average rate of increase has been twice as high (+0.18 ° C).

Decadal deviations (the decade-long anomaly, which is a difference from the average temperature) for the years 2011-2020 were the warmest in the world, with a temperature of +0.82 ° C.

The temperature anomaly for the years 2011-2020 is the most globally (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

For the 21-year period considered a reasonable alternative to pre-industrial conditions (1880-1900), the global temperature for 2020 was 1.19 degrees Celsius above average.

The surface and ocean temperature of the Northern Hemisphere for 2020 was the highest in a record 141 years at 1.28 ° C above the 20th century average.

Meanwhile, surface and ocean temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere were the fifth-highest on record.

Earth and ocean surface heat

Most land areas experienced above average temperatures in 2020, but Siberia was especially warm throughout the year.

The global mean surface temperature for 2020 was 1.59 ° C above the 20th century average, the highest among all years in a record of 141 years, and beats the previous record in 2016 by 0.05 ° C.

Europe and Asia were also the warmest years on record. South America and the Caribbean recorded the second warmest year on record, while Africa and Oceania recorded the fourth warmest year on record.

Percentages of Land and Sea Surface Temperatures January through December 2020 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

According to the report, most ocean areas have experienced higher than normal temperatures, and the average sea surface temperature for 2020 was the third highest in the world, with the temperature deviating from an average of 0.76 degrees Celsius above the average of the 20th century.

The upper ocean heat content (OHC) - which treats the amount of heat stored in the depth of the ocean from 0 to 2,000 meters - was slightly higher in 2020, the highest on record.

Ice and hurricanes

According to the National Ice and Snow Data Center, the average annual extent of sea ice in the Arctic was about 3.93 million square miles, close to 2016 as the smallest previous annual average recorded in 1979.

The extent of annual sea ice in Antarctica was close to the average at 4.44 million square miles.

Earth and sea surface anomalous temperatures January through December 2020 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

The report concluded by talking about tropical storms, as 103 tropical storms blew around the world during the year 2020, which is equivalent to the record recorded in 2018.

The North Atlantic captured about 30% of the global cumulative hurricane energy (ACE) that measures the strength and duration of tropical storms and hurricanes, which is more than twice its usual share, while cumulative hurricane energy in total was 25% less than normal And the fifth lowest level since 1981.