The planet is getting warmer, but at a statistically steady rate, a new study reveals. An international team of researchers from the U.S. and U.K. investigated if the rate of global warming has significantly increased, or “surged,” over the last half-century at statistically detectable rates. Published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, the study confirms the broad consensus that the planet is getting warmer, but not at a sufficiently accelerated rate that can be statistically defined as a “surge.” Recent years have seen record-breaking temperatures and heat waves globally.