NASA data shows Earth is heating up at an alarming rate

NEW DELHI: The annual satellite data from NASA shows that the Earth is heating up at an alarming rate. The temperatures in India show a record high this summer with March coming as a burnt spring, the hottest April in a century and topped off with a national power crisis. These temperatures that are experienced by the average Indian are a testament to the heating up of the entire planet.

Official data from NASA shows that the planet has a considerable amount of additional energy sizzling around the system. The temperatures for the last year is particularly bad, as this scorching heat has caused ice caps to melt, resulting in the ever-rising sea levels. This has also affected the oceans, the land and the atmosphere that have all heated up. The last 20 years has seen an unprecedented rate of global warming, with record temperatures being documented between March 2021 and February 2022.

Data shows that the rate of global warming has tripled in the last years, heating up the Earth at a speed of 1.64 Watt per square meter (W/m²), which is a significant jump from last year. This can be compared with the amount of heat being produced if a million Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs are detonated every day, the New Indian Express reported.

The rate at which the world heats up is read using a key variable that is the Earth's Energy Imbalance. The presence of additional Energy in the Earth's system was recorded from the Earth's Energy Imbalance (EEI) data taken between March 2021-Februar 2022

Leon Simons, a climate researcher, says NASA's CERES radiative flux data for 2021 had the annual EEI at 1.52 W/m² — or 1 million Hiroshimas. This increased to 1.64 W/m² this year. EEI should fluctuate around 0 W/m² in order to stabilize the climate, and it should average in the negatives to cool down the temperature.

NASA's CERES team forecasted a decrease in the rate of heat uptake in a cyclical waning, according to the climate researcher. However, that has not been the case. Absorbed Solar Radiation (ASR) increased faster than Outgoing Longwave Radiation. ''Higher greenhouse gas concentrations "limit the amount of heat that radiates to space," Simons tweeted.

The burning of the Fossil Fuel is a major reason for such a rise in temperature.