From: Subject: Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:57:50 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C62213.87A63EA0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C62213.87A63EA0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-01-24T210314Z_01_N24226172_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-ENVIRONMENT-WARMING-DC.XML =EF=BB=BF Science News Article | = Reuters.co.uk
3D""=20  
3D""=20 symbol=20 lookup 3D""=20 3D""=20 Login/Register | Help & Info
Jump To
YOU ARE HERE: Home > News >=20 Science = &=20 Technology > Science=20 >Article
2005 was warmest year on record: = NASA
Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:04 PM GMT3D6=20
Printer=20 Friendly  |  Email=20 Article  |  RSS
 
3D""=20=20

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year was the warmest recorded = on=20 Earth's surface, and it was unusually hot in the Arctic, = U.S. space=20 agency NASA said on Tuesday.

All five of the hottest years since modern record-keeping = began=20 in the 1890s occurred within the last decade, according to = analysis=20 by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

In descending order, the years with the highest global = average=20 annual temperatures were 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, = NASA said=20 in a statement.

"It's fair to say that it probably is the warmest since = we have=20 modern meteorological records," said Drew Shindell of the = NASA=20 institute in New York City.

"Using indirect measurements that go back farther, I = think it's=20 even fair to say that it's the warmest in the last several = thousand=20 years."

Some researchers had expected 1998 would be the hottest = year on=20 record, notably because a strong El Nino -- a warm-water = pattern in=20 the eastern Pacific -- boosted global temperatures.

But Shindell said last year was slightly warmer than = 1998, even=20 without any extraordinary weather pattern. Temperatures in = the=20 Arctic were unusually warm in 2005, NASA said.

"That very anomalously warm year (1998) has become the = norm,"=20 Shindell said in a telephone interview.

"The rate of warming has been so rapid that this = temperature that=20 we only got when we had a real strong El Nino now has become = something that we've gotten without any unusual worldwide = weather=20 disturbance."

Over the past 30 years, Earth has warmed by 1.08 degrees = F (0.6=20 degrees C), NASA said. Over the past 100 years, it has = warmed by=20 1.44 degrees F (0.8 degrees C).

Shindell, in line with the view held by most scientists,=20 attributed the rise to emissions of greenhouse gases such as = carbon=20 dioxide, methane and ozone, with the burning of fossil fuels = being=20 the primary source.

The 21st century could see global temperature increases = of 6 to=20 10 degrees F (3 to 5 degrees C), Shindell said.

"That will really bring us up to the warmest temperatures = the=20 world has experienced probably in the last million years," = he=20 said.

To understand whether the Earth is cooling or warming, = scientists=20 use data from weather stations on land, satellite = measurements of=20 sea surface temperature since 1982, and data from ships for = earlier=20 years.

More information and images are available online at:=20 = http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/2005_warmest.html.


=C2=A9 Reuters 2006. All Rights = Reserved.=20


3D""=20
More=20 Science
New planet-hunting method could = find more=20 Earths
Korean cloning scandal shows = system works:=20 expert
Sex calms nerves before public = speaking -=20 study
US asks co's to slash output of = Teflon=20 compound
Scientists solve puzzle of flu = virus=20 replication
3D""=20
3D""=20
MORE
=20 		3D""=20
= =

Reuters.co.uk  Help & Info | Contact Us | Advertise | Disclaimer=20 | Copyright=20 | Privacy=20 | Corrections
About Reuters | Products=20 & Services | Customer Zone | Careers