Planet shatters warming records, 2015 hottest 'by far' .

Residents of Ahero move to safer grounds after their houses were flooded following heavy El Nino rains. Regions of eastern and southern Africa experienced more scorching days than ever, as did large parts of the northeastern and equatorial Pacific boosted by the El Nino. PHOTO | FILE 

By KERRY SHERIDAN

In Summary

• NASA, which monitors global climate using a fleet of satellites and weather stations, confirmed that last year broke records for heat in contemporary times.
• Parts of eastern and southern Africa experienced more scorching days than ever, boosted in part by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Blistering heat blanketed the Earth last year making 2015 by far the hottest year in modern times and raising new concerns about the accelerating pace of climate change.

Not only was 2015 the warmest worldwide since 1880, it shattered the previous record held in 2014 by the widest margin ever observed, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average," said the NOAA report.

"This was the highest among all years in the 1880-2015 record."

Compared to 2014, last year was 0.29 degrees Fahrenheit warmer, the "largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken."

The US space agency NASA, which monitors global climate using a fleet of satellites and weather stations, confirmed that last year broke records for heat in contemporary times.

NASA said that the temperature changes are largely driven by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.

"Climate change is the challenge of our generation," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

"Today's announcement not only underscores how critical NASA's Earth observation program is, it is a key data point that should make policymakers stand up and take notice — now is the time to act on climate."

Planet-wide heat

The latest finding adds to a steady rise in heat across land and sea surfaces that have seen records repeatedly broken over the years.

"Since 1997, which at the time was the warmest year on record, 16 of the subsequent 18 years have been warmer than that year," said the NOAA report.

Last year alone, 10 months had record high temperatures for their respective months.

The heat was felt worldwide, with unprecedented warmth covering much of Central America and the northern half of South America. Hot temperatures were observed in parts of northern, southern and eastern Europe as well as western Asia and a large section of east-central Siberia.

Regions of eastern and southern Africa experienced more scorching days than ever, as did large parts of the northeastern and equatorial Pacific boosted by the El Nino weather phenomenon.