It's a well-known fact the global temperature is rising, but the rate in which the process is happening has even caught some scientists off guard.
It turns out last March was the hottest in 137 years of record keeping, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says. According to its data, the record high is the 11th straight month to establish a new record -- and it sets up 2016 to also break records.
Typically, scientists talk about global temperature over long-term periods. For example, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the average temperature worldwide between 1951 and 1980 was around 14.2 degC.
Last year, the hottest year on record, the global temperature was around 1.8 degC higher than that 1951 to 1980 period and it is believed 2016 go beyond that. Previously, this was a phenomenon which had been occurring every three years.
Not only this, but 15 of the world's hottest years on record have been recorded in the 21st century and despite NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies prediction there was a 99 percent chance this year would be hotter than last, it's still caught researchers on the back foot.
Even the Arctic is feeling the heat, with winter ice levels sitting at the lowest level for this time of year on record. The rapid melting got to a point where scientists in Greenland initially thought their calculations were wrong.
This was partially because of the El Nino weather system sitting over the pacific -- but the rest lies in the fact our planet is supposedly getting hot -- fast.
Newshub.
