In 2013, the vast majority of worldwide climate indicators—including greenhouse gas concentrations, sea levels, and global temperatures, among others—continued to reflect evidence of a warming planet. That was the conclusion of the State of the Climate in 2013, a report published in July 2014 by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). Scientists from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) served as the lead editors of the report, which was authored by 425 scientists (including researchers from NASA and other divisions of NOAA) from 57 countries around the world.

The report, which is issued annually, details unusual and extreme weather events and uses dozens of internationally recognized indicators to track changes in the global climate system. Each indicator is based on thousands of measurements from multiple independent datasets, consolidated with the help of a diverse array of international scientists. The report provides a valuable reference not only for scientists, but also for the increasing number of decision makers who consider climate conditions and trends in their work. NOAA has issued a preliminary version of the State of the Climate report for 2014, and the full report is expected later this year.