On Tuesday the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) separately reported on rising global temperatures for the first decade of the new century, stating that it will be the hottest on record.
Global surface temperatures for 2009 will be well above the long-term average, while the annual temperature for the contiguous United States will likely be above the long-term average, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The analysis is based on global records, which began in 1880 and U.S. records beginning in 1895.
The announcements were timed to add urgency to ongoing climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The 2000–2009 decade will be the warmest on record, with its average global surface temperature about 0.96 degree F above the 20th century average. This will easily surpass the 1990s value of 0.65 degree F.
Other highlights reported by NOAA:
- 2009 will be one of the 10 warmest years of the global surface temperature record, and likely finish as the fourth, fifth or sixth warmest year on record.
- Arctic sea ice extent reached its third smallest annual minimum on record behind 2007 and 2008. The past five years have produced the lowest sea ice extents on record.
- A fast start to the U.S. wildfire season slowed by mid-year. The nationwide acreage burned by wildfire declined to below average by year’s end. The annual number of fires remained slightly above average.
The NOAA figures meshed with the WMO figures, which are measured separately. The release of WMO figures was moved up from a typical release date at the end of the year to coincide with Copenhagen talks. They may help to diffuse the ‘climategate’ scandal, which purports that scientists have withheld climate data that does not support the global warming theory.
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