This is what the Earth will look like in 100 years — if we're lucky

AP Photo/Matt York

At this point, you're probably fully aware of how hot it is. But in case you're unaware: It's really, really hot.

In fact, it's likely that 2016 will be the hottest year on record, increasing 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.3 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial averages.

That brings us dangerously close to the 2.7-degree-Fahrenheit (1.5-degree-Celsius) limit set by international policymakers for global warming.

"There's no stopping global warming," Gavin Schmidt, climate scientist and director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, told Business Insider. "Everything that's happened so far is baked into the system."

That means even if carbon emissions dropped to zero tomorrow, we'd still be watching human-driven climate change play out for centuries. And, as we all know, emissions aren't going to stop tomorrow. So the key thing now, Schmidt said, is slowing climate change down enough to make sure we can adapt to it as painlessly as possible.

This is what the Earth could look like within 100 years if we do, barring huge leaps in renewable energy or carbon-capture technology.

"I think the 1.5-degree [2.7-degree F] target is out-of-reach as a long-term goal," Schmidt said. He estimated we'll blow past that somewhere around 2030.

Stephane Mahe/Reuters

But Schmidt is more optimistic about staying at or under 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) above pre-industrial levels — the level of temperature rise the United Nations hopes to avoid.

Thomson Reuters

Let's assume we land somewhere between those two targets. At the end of this century, we're already looking at a world that is, on average 3 degrees or so Fahrenheit above where we are now.

NASA

See the rest of the story at Business Insider