1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,793
Hi. My name is Doctor Kate Calvin.

2
00:00:01,793 --> 00:00:04,796
I'm NASA's Chief Scientist and Senior
Climate Advisor.

3
00:00:04,921 --> 00:00:06,965
And I'm going to answer
some of the top questions

4
00:00:06,965 --> 00:00:09,968
that we're getting from users
like you about climate

5
00:00:11,136 --> 00:00:13,888
This May was the hottest May on record.

6
00:00:13,888 --> 00:00:18,518
So we've had now 12 consecutive record
breaking months of heat.

7
00:00:18,852 --> 00:00:21,563
That means for the last year,
every month has been

8
00:00:21,563 --> 00:00:24,566
the hottest of that month on record.

9
00:00:25,025 --> 00:00:27,068
so May was the hottest May on record.

10
00:00:27,068 --> 00:00:29,738
2023 was the hottest year on record.

11
00:00:29,738 --> 00:00:35,243
We're also seeing other changes
in in ecosystems all around the world.

12
00:00:35,243 --> 00:00:37,787
So we're seeing changes in precipitation
patterns.

13
00:00:37,787 --> 00:00:40,790
We see more heavy precipitation
in some regions.

14
00:00:40,790 --> 00:00:42,125
We see more droughts.

15
00:00:42,125 --> 00:00:43,793
We're seeing declines in ice,

16
00:00:43,793 --> 00:00:47,547
both Arctic sea ice as well as changes
in the mass of ice sheets.

17
00:00:47,839 --> 00:00:51,426
We are seeing increases in sea level
that affect coastal communities

18
00:00:51,426 --> 00:00:54,345
all around the world,
and we're seeing all of these changes.

19
00:00:54,345 --> 00:00:56,681
We can observe them through surface
measurements,

20
00:00:56,681 --> 00:00:58,600
we can see them through satellite

21
00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,604
based measurements, and we can see how the
Earth is changing over time.

22
00:01:04,481 --> 00:01:04,898
So what

23
00:01:04,898 --> 00:01:08,651
we mean by that is that May
is the hottest May on record.

24
00:01:08,651 --> 00:01:11,529
April was the hottest April on record.

25
00:01:11,529 --> 00:01:13,156
There is still a seasonal cycle.

26
00:01:13,156 --> 00:01:16,868
But what we're saying is that
that winters are getting hotter

27
00:01:16,868 --> 00:01:20,080
than anything we've experienced,
that we've recorded before.

28
00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,583
Summers are hotter than what
we've recorded before, and so that each

29
00:01:23,583 --> 00:01:28,421
individual month is, respectively,
the hottest of that month on record.

30
00:01:29,589 --> 00:01:31,466
Not necessarily.

31
00:01:31,466 --> 00:01:31,800
So we're

32
00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:35,637
seeing an overall trend in warming,
but we might still see individual years

33
00:01:35,637 --> 00:01:37,972
that are hotter
or cooler than the previous,

34
00:01:37,972 --> 00:01:41,601
and individual months that are hotter
or cooler than the previous month.

35
00:01:41,601 --> 00:01:44,312
So we are seeing
an overall trend in warming,

36
00:01:44,312 --> 00:01:47,649
but that doesn't necessarily mean
every single month will be the hottest.

37
00:01:50,485 --> 00:01:52,320
El Nino is a natural cycle

38
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,865
that affects temperatures
and and weather around the world.

39
00:01:56,199 --> 00:02:00,411
El Nino years
tend to be warmer on average than others.

40
00:02:00,578 --> 00:02:03,581
La Nina years
tend to be cooler on average.

41
00:02:03,623 --> 00:02:07,794
But with climate change, what we're seeing
is an overall trend in warming.

42
00:02:07,794 --> 00:02:12,924
So our La Nina years are also getting
warmer, as well as our El Nino years.

43
00:02:13,091 --> 00:02:16,302
And so we see an overall trend in warming,
but we're still seeing

44
00:02:16,302 --> 00:02:19,556
individual years that are warmer
or cooler than the previous year

45
00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,642
because of El Nino and La Nina.

46
00:02:23,810 --> 00:02:26,104
Well, we know what's
driving the warming on our planet.

47
00:02:26,104 --> 00:02:29,107
We know it's driven
by increases in greenhouse gases.

48
00:02:29,190 --> 00:02:31,776
We also know, how to limit warming.

49
00:02:31,776 --> 00:02:35,655
So we know that by reducing greenhouse
gases we can reduce the rate of warming.

50
00:02:35,822 --> 00:02:40,076
And there are options available today
that can help us reduce greenhouse gases.

51
00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:42,704
There's also people all around the world

52
00:02:42,704 --> 00:02:46,541
that are working to better understand
our planet, and to develop technologies

53
00:02:46,541 --> 00:02:47,250
and understanding

54
00:02:47,250 --> 00:02:50,253
that can help us address the changes
that are happening where I live.

55
00:02:50,378 --> 00:02:52,964
And there's people like you
that are learning about this now

56
00:02:52,964 --> 00:02:54,257
and can help us in the future.