"The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet," said NASA in a statement published on its website on Friday, citing research carried out by its Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
NASA's Friday report comes after similar findings released by the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), according to which the average combined land and ocean surface temperature for 2014 was 0.69 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average, while the average temperature for December 2014 was a record high of 0.77 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average.
According to NOAA, 2014 averaged 14.58 degrees Celsius, while NASA recorded a slightly different figure of 14.68 degrees Celsius for the year. NASA's interpretation of the data reported that the average temperature for 2014 was slightly lower, at 0.68 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average, but record-breaking nevertheless. The two agencies use the same raw data, but a different period of the 20th century as a baseline comparative.
"While the ranking of individual years can be affected by chaotic weather patterns, the long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases," said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt.
The NOAA reported that 2014's record temperature beat the previous record warmth of 2010 and 2005 by 0.04 degrees Celsius, and that for the 38th consecutive year, since 1977, the annual temperature has been above the long-term average.
The World Meteorological Association last month forecast the extreme results for 2014, and drew attention to a series of extreme weather conditions over the course of the year, including droughts in parts of China and the Americas, but record rainfall and flooding in parts of Europe, Japan and North Africa.
