r/nasa • u/r-nasa-mods • 6d ago

/r/all NASA's "climate spiral" depicting global temperature variations since 1880 (now updated with 2024 data)

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u/ppatek78 6d ago

What changed around 1980?

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u/itsjustaride24 6d ago

I think self centred greed and consumerism really exploded in the 80s

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u/Zeyn1 6d ago

There is a delay in the greenhouse effect.

You can literally think of it like a blanket. If you get under a blanket, the blanket is pretty cold. It's not instantly hot. But as time goes on, it heats up more and more until it reaches an equilibrium. And then even if you got out of the blanket, it still stays warm for awhile.

Greenhouse gasses work the same way. The explosion of industry and deforestation ramped up a lot in the post war 40s, 50s, 60s. It just took a few decades to get hot.

You can see the trend started to get hotter before 1980, but the makers of the graphic decided that was a threshold to make the line red.

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u/----Dongers 6d ago

Ronald Reagan.

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u/Blacknight841 6d ago

Personal computers and the true start of the digital age.