Publication Date January 12, 2011 | NASA

NASA Research Finds 2010 Tied for Warmest Year on Record

A polar bear managed to get on one of the last ice floes floating in the Arctic sea. Credit: Gerard Van der Leun, Flickr
A polar bear managed to get on one of the last ice floes floating in the Arctic sea. Credit: Gerard Van der Leun, Flickr

Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record, according to an analysis released Wednesday by researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York..."If the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long," said James Hansen, the director of GISS...The record temperature in 2010 is particularly noteworthy, because the last half of the year was marked by a transition to strong La Niña conditions, which bring cool sea surface temperatures to the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.