NASA Says 2012 Was 9th-Warmest Year On Record

Still don't believe in global warming? It's certainly a debatable topic that can lead to some heated discussions, as proven yesterday. However, climate scientists at NASA have discovered that 2012 was the 9th-warmest year on record since the 1880s. They also note that the last year the Earth showed cooler-than-normal temperatures was 1976.

What's more shocking is that NASA's findings show that the ten hottest years ever recorded since the 1880s have all occurred after 1998. The report was published by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), and it notes that the average temperature has risen by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, with most of the increase happening within the last four decades.

This may not seem like a huge increase at all, but NASA scientists warn that seasons, like the summer of 2012, which was hotter-than-average, should serve as a wake-up call for citizens. NASA GISS director James E. Hansen says that some seasons will obviously still "be cooler than the long-term average, but the perceptive person should notice that the frequency of unusually warm extremes is increasing."

Data from various satellites, spacecrafts, and multiple scientific experiments all point to climate changes, according to NASA, and although the topic of global warming and climate change is still controversial, a good number of Americans believe global warming, odd weather changes, and climate shifting are a reality.