PlanetArk 14 Dec 07;
LONDON - The 11 warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 13 years, with 2007 set to be the seventh hottest since 1950, according to provisional global data from the UK's Met Office and the University of East Anglia.
The top eight hottest years since global records began are all this century, except the hottest of all, 1998, when the mean global temperature was 0.52 degrees Celsius above the long-term average for 1961-1990.
The announcement comes as the European Union clashed with the United States over Washington's resistence to settting global targets for fighting climate change at UN talks in Bali.
Scientists and politicians are in Indonesia to discuss how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for increasing global temperatures.
"The last few days have provided an important platform for debate and confirms the need for swift action to combat further rises in global temperatures because of human behaviour," Vicky Pope from the Met Office's Hadley Centre, who has been attending the conference, said in a statement on Thursday.
The last time annual mean global temperatures were below the long-term average was in 1985, the Hadley Centre, the UK's leading climate research body, said on Thursday. Mean surface air temperatures have continued on an upward trend ever since.
According to global temperature data for January to November, 2007 is on track to be 0.41 degrees Celsius above the long-term average and would probably have been even hotter had it not been for the cooling effect of the La Nina weather phenomenon.
"The year began with a weak El Nino -- the warmer relation of La Nina -- and global temperatures well above the long-term average," Phil Jones, director of UEA's Climatic Research Unit, said. "However, since the end of April the La Nina event has taken some of the heat out of what could have been an even warmer year." (Reporting by Daniel Fineren, editing by Anthony Barker)
11 Hottest Years Occurred in Past 13
Dave Mosher, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 14 Dec 07;
New climate data indicate this year might be one of 11 of the hottest years on record, all of which have occurred in the past 13 years.
Announced today at United Nations global climate change talks in Bali, Indonesia, the conclusion stems from global climate records dating back to 1850 and new data collected from January through November 2007. So far, 2007 has been the seventh hottest year on record.
The last few days have provided an important platform for debate and confirms the need for swift action to combat further rises in global temperatures because of human behavior," said Vicky Pope, head of climate predictions at the Met Office Hadley Center for Climate Change in England, from the Bali conference.
Scientists and politicians at the conference are discussing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which have been linked to rising global temperatures.
While 2007 is shaping up for seventh hottest in the worldwide category, different regions have seen more marked increases in temperature. The half of the planet north of the equator, for example, may be just shy of an all-time annual heat record.
2007 was warmer in the Northern Hemisphere, where the year ranks second warmest, than the Southern Hemisphere, where it ranks ninth warmest," said Phil Jones, a climatologist at the University of East Anglia in England. The year began with a weak El Nino -- the warmer relation of La Nina -- and global temperatures well above the long-term average. However, since the end of April the La Nina event has taken some of the heat out of what could have been an even warmer year.
Across the United Kingdom, 2007 is on course to break all previous warm temperature records.
Even if December's average temperature is 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) below the 1971-2000 long-term average, it would still be the area's third warmest since 1914. Of the UK's 94 years of local records, 2002 through 2007 are set to become the six warmest years ever for the region.
The top 10 hottest years globally, based on average temperatures, include:
1998 - 32.94 degrees Fahrenheit (0.52 degrees Celsius) 2005 - 32.86 degrees Fahrenheit (0.48 degrees Celsius) 2003 - 32.83 degrees Fahrenheit (0.46 degrees Celsius) 2002 - 32.83 degrees Fahrenheit (0.46 degrees Celsius) 2004 - 32.77 degrees Fahrenheit (0.43 degrees Celsius) 2006 - 32.76 degrees Fahrenheit (0.42 degrees Celsius) 2007 - 32.74 degrees Fahrenheit (0.41 degrees Celsius) 2001 - 32.72 degrees Fahrenheit (0.40 degrees Celsius) 1997 - 32.65 degrees Fahrenheit (0.36 degrees Celsius) 1995 - 32.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.28 degrees Celsius)
As for the effects of an unusually hot 2007: This year has also seen sea-ice extent in the Northern Hemisphere below average in each month of 2007, with record [minimum] sea-ice reported in July, August and September," said climate scientist David Parker, also with the Met Office Hadley Center for Climate Change.
Sea-ice coverage in the Southern Hemisphere, however, has remained close to average, Parker said.
2007 data confirms warming trend
BBC News 13 Dec 07;
This year has been one of the warmest since 1850, despite the cooling influence of La Nina conditions, according to scientists.
The UK's Hadley Centre and University of East Anglia conclude that globally, this year ranks as the seventh warmest.
The 11 warmest years in this set have all occurred within the last 13 years. For the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 was the second warmest recorded.
The findings come as the UN climate summit discusses carbon emission cuts.
The Hadley Centre's head of climate prediction, Vicky Pope, who is at the Bali talks, said the data "confirmed the need for swift action to combat further rises in global temperatures because of human behaviour."
The data was presented to Bali delegates by Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which has partially overseen the landmark assessment published during the year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"What we are seeing is a confirmation of the warming trend seen by the IPCC reports," he said.
Pacific heights
At the beginning of the year, the same group of scientists said 2007 was set to be the warmest on record.
"The year began with a weak El Nino... and global temperatures well above the long-term average," said Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
THE 10 WARMEST YEARS
1998 - 0.52C (above the 1961-1990 average)
2005 - 0.48C
2003 - 0.46C
2002 - 0.46C
2004 - 0.43C
2006 - 0.42C
2007 (provisional) - 0.41C
2001 - 0.40C
1997 - 0.36C
1995 - 0.28C
"However, since the end of April, the La Nina event has taken some of the heat out of what could have been an even warmer year."
El Nino and La Nina represent opposite ends of a periodic and natural variation in climatic conditions across the Pacific.
El Nino events see above-average ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, while lower temperatures in the same regions are manifested during La Nina.
The 1998 El Nino event, one of the most powerful on record, was largely responsible for that year being the warmest documented since 1850, and warmer than any since.
The warmth of the years since 2000 is thought to be driving the thinning of Arctic sea-ice. Scientists forecast this week that the ice could melt entirely during summers by 2013.
