According to NASA, although nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000, 2011 was only the ninth warmest year on record. The world's average temperature in 2011 was 0.92 degrees Fahrenheit (0.51 degrees Celcius) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline period of 1951 to 1980. James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies said, "We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting. So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Niña influence and low solar activity for the past several years, 2011 was one of the 10 warmest years on record." There is some disagreement over 2011's ranking, however. NOAA scientists arrived at the same temperature data, but have ranked 2011 as the 11th warmest year on record. 2011, which was slightly cooler because of La Niña, was still "hotter than every year last century except 1998." This diagram shows world-wide annual temperature increases since 1884:
Tom Karl, director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, explained that a cooler year did not mean overall trends of rising temperatures would necessarily change. Check out this very scary video that shows the temperature changes.
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