2010 Heating Up To Be The Warmest Year On Record

 Warming temperatures this year are on pace to tie 1998 as the warmest year in recorded history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

All year heat waves have continued to break records including last month, with Los Angeles recording its all-time hottest day where temperatures reached 113-degrees.

Sea ice in the Arctic has reached a record low this year, with sea ice volume falling 70%-percent below the average of the last 30 years.

The Northeast and Northwest shipping passages, normally full of ice, were ice-free this summer for the third straight year.

Scientists collect warming data using sea surface temperatures, air temperature over land and water, the tropospheric temperatures in the atmosphere, and relative humidity, to name just a few methods.

Warming temperatures have led to increased spread of disease, increased weather such as hurricanes, drought, and disrupted eco-systems.

The dominant cause of the warming is greenhouse gases emitted by human activity