January world temperatures highest ever
Pastor Dale Morgan
January world temperatures highest ever*
From correspondents in New York
February 17, 2007 12:59pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
World temperatures in January were the highest ever recorded for that
month of the year.
"The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the highest
for any January on record,'' according to scientists from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climate Data Centre in
Asheville, North Carolina.
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.85 degrees
celsius warmer than the 20th-century average of 12 degrees celsius for
January based on preliminary data, NOAA said.
The figures surpass the previous record set in 2002 at 0.71 degrees
celsius above average.
Land surface temperature was a record 1.89C warmer than average, while
global ocean surface temperature was the fourth warmest in 128 years,
about 0.05 degrees celsius cooler than the record established during the
very strong El Nino climate phenomenon in 1998.
A moderate El Nino started in September and continued into January
before weakening, NOAA
said.
El Nino is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and eastern
Pacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western
seaboard of Latin America to East Africa, and potentially has a global
impact on climate.
"The presence of El Nino along with the continuing global warming trend
contributed to the record warm January,'' NOAA said.
"The unusually warm conditions contributed to the second lowest January
snow cover extent on record for the Eurasian continent.
"During the past century, global surface temperatures have increased at
a rate near 0.06 degrees celsius per decade, but the rate of increase
has been three times larger since 1976, or 0.18 degrees celsius per
decade, with some of the largest temperature increases occurring in the
high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere."