(NewsNation) — The past nine years have been the warmest since modern record-keeping began and 2024 could be even warmer, according to NASA officials who are working to slow the effects of climate change.
NASA leadership spoke Thursday at a news conference highlighting recent extreme weather events and potential climate solutions. Those include efforts to cool communities as temperatures climb and finding ways to pinpoint greenhouse gas emissions by mapping the release of methane.
From wildfires and flooding to a record-setting heatwave in the Southwest, the world is feeling the “shocking but not surprising” effects of climate change said Gavin Schmidt, director, of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
To research and combat those effects, NASA has employed more than two dozen satellites, and instruments aboard the International Space Station, and partnered with international experts to better understand and the planet and keep record of its evolution.
“I think what’s sometimes different for people is when you actually experience it in your neighborhood where you live, and I think that’s what we’re seeing now,” said Kate Calvin, NASA chief scientist and senior climate adviser. “But we’ve seen these trends and rises in temperature for a while, and we know what’s driving it.”