2016 was the hottest year on record – again

Last year was officially the Earth’s warmest since record-keeping began in the 1880s, the World Meteorological Organization announced Wednesday morning.

That means 2016 set a global heat record for the third year in a row according to NOAA and NASA, who held a joint press conference on Wednesday to discuss the record.

Not only was this the third consecutive year to rank hotter than all previous years, it also means 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000, according to NOAA. To put this in perspective, the last time we had a record cold year was 1911.

Temperatures over the Earth’s continents and oceans in 2016 were 1.1 degree Celsius (1.98 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average, according to the WMO. That means we are already a majority of the way to the 1.5-degree warming goal set at the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

Climate scientists say greenhouse gas pollution, which humans are creating primarily by burning fossil fuels and chopping down rainforests, likely contributed to the 2016 record.

And the pollution certainly is behind the long-term trend toward warming, scientists say.

“(T)he spate of record-warm years that we have seen in the 21st century can only be explained by human-caused climate change,” said Michael Mann, director of the Earth Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.

“The effect of human activity on our climate is no longer subtle. It’s plain as day, as are the impacts – in the form of record floods, droughts, superstorms and wildfires – that it is having on us and our planet.”

Humans are contributing to warming

A record El Niño lasting from 2015 into 2016 played a role in further pushing the planet’s temperature higher. El Niños are weather phenomena that warm the Pacific Ocean and pump lots of excess heat into the atmosphere, raising global temperatures.

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The science behind El Niño

But El Niño is only one factor in the warming of the planet.

And climate scientists say it is a relatively small one when compared to the role that humans are playing.

“The record is due to a combination of the (natural) strong 2015-2016 El Niño (warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean surface) and the strong global warming trend that has continued from 1970 to the present,” James Hansen, former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told CNN.

But “the human-caused, long-term warming trend is the bigger contributor,” he added.

To come up with its figures the WMO combined different global temperature datasets from various sources, including NOAA, NASA, the UK Met Office and the European weather and climate center, ECMWF.

Despite using different methods to compile and analyze the temperatures, all those agencies reached the same conclusion – that 2016 “continued the long-term trend of warming we have seen since the 1970s … and have not paused in any way,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Arctic is warming faster

While the warming for the planet was just over 1 degree Celsius, the Arctic continued to warm much faster, with temperatures more than 3 degrees Celsius – 5.4 degrees F – above what they were in previous decades.

“The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average” according to the WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, and “we have also broken sea ice minimum records in the Arctic and Antarctic.”

The polar warmth is not just a problem for the polar bears, it lead an entire village in Alaska to vote to relocate.

And the impacts extent much further.

Residents of Shishmaref, Alaska -- population 560 -- voted this year to relocate because of climate change. The community is inhabited mostly by indigenous Inupiat people. The coast of their barrier island is thawing and falling into the sea, among other issues.

Shelton and Clara Kokeok are among the residents who say they won't leave the town, about 30 miles from the Arctic Circle. Their son, Norman, shown in the photograph, was killed when he fell through sea ice in 2007. They blame climate change for his death.

The Kokeoks live in a small blue house at the very edge of the barrier island, which is accessible only by plane much of the year. Most of their neighbors' homes were moved back from the coast because of warming. One home fell into the sea.

Seal is a staple of the local diet, and it's often dried and frozen outside for the winter.

Sealskin boots traditionally were used to keep feet warm and dry.

The Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition met in December 2016 to discuss plans for the move and other matters.

It's unclear to those on the relocation committee when -- or if -- the move will happen. The community has no substantial funding for the relocation effort, according to local coordinator Annie Weyiouanna.

Esau Sinnok and his adoptive mother, Bessi Sinnok, reluctantly say they want the village to move. The younger Sinnok says it's the only way to preserve the community's unique indigenous traditions. Climate change will force relocation if locals don't plan it, he said.

Susie Nayokpuk, left, and Hazel Fernandez complained about the heat in late December. "I miss that cold-cold weather," said Fernandez. "It's too weird. It's too warm." Thermometers that week showed temperatures in the 10s and 20s. The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the rest of the Earth.

Relocating the village would be too expensive, said Percy Nayokpuk, who owns a store in town. Shipping costs would increase if residents moved to the mainland. Still, he said, "I think to deny that there's climate change is wrong. Climate change is happening."

There are two stores in town, both stocked primarily by plane. Many local people live off the land by fishing and hunting. Traditional foods include seal, walrus, caribou and plants picked from the tundra.

Freakishly warm weather has thrown off hunting and fishing seasons, though, making locals somewhat more reliant on consumer goods. Some carry prices many times those found in the mainland United States.

On December 21, the shortest day of the year, the sun rose about 12:45 p.m. and set around 3:20 p.m. Life continues in the dark hours of the day.

Most homes have no running water or sewage. Locals harvest ice from a nearby lake and melt it for drinking water.

The local church is one of the main landmarks in town. There are only a couple of trucks on the island. Most people travel on foot or snowmobile.

Some parents say they don't talk about the pending relocation with their children, fearing it will be too upsetting. Other young people want the village to move, fearing it will become too dangerous as warming continues.