Touching the Sun
The Sun, the fiery heart of our solar system, has fascinated humanity for centuries. Despite the progress of modern science, many of its secrets remain locked away, particularly the mysteries of its outer atmosphere, the corona.
Last month was the second-warmest May in 137 years of modern record-keeping of average global temperatures, according to NASA.
The two top May temperature anomalies have occurred during the past two years. 2016 was the hottest on record, at 0.93 degrees Celsius warmer than the May mean temperature.
Advertisement
Last month was 0.88 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean May temperature from 1951-1980.
Advertisement
This year's May temperature was 0.05 degrees Celsius cooler than last year. It was just 0.01 degrees Celsius warmer than the third warmest May, which occurred in 2014.
The monthly analysis by scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is assembled from publicly available data acquired by about 6,300 meteorological stations around the world, ship- and buoy-based instruments measuring sea surface temperature, and Antarctic research stations.
The modern global temperature record begins around 1880 because previous observations didn't cover enough of the planet.
Advertisement
