Watch 135 Years of Global Warming in 30 Seconds

This iconic animation from our friends at NASA depicts how temperatures around the globe have warmed from 1880 to 2014. You’ll note an acceleration of the temperature trend in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide and clean air laws reduced emissions of pollutants that had a cooling effect on the climate, and thus were masking some of the global warming signal.

The data come from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York (GISS), which monitors global surface temperatures. As NASA notes, “All 10 of the warmest years in the GISS analysis have occurred since 1998, continuing a trend of temperatures well above the mid-20th century average.”

RELATEDA Broken Record: 2014 Hottest Year