Last year was only slightly warmer than the other record-breaking years, 1998 and 2005, according to data released by the World Meteorological Organization.
In 2010, global average temperature reached 0.53°C (0.95°F), just above above the 1961-90 mean, according to a press release. It goes on to say, “This value is 0.01°C (0.02°F) above the nominal temperature in 2005, and 0.02°C (0.05°F) above 1998.”
MO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said, “The 2010 data confirm the Earth’s significant long-term warming trend. The ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998.”
The areas hardest hit by the warming trend has been Asia, Africa and the Arctic. Eastern Canada and Greenland were exceptionally warm in 2010, the report states.
From 2001 to 2010, global temperatures have averaged 0.46°C (0.83°F), above the 1961-1990 average. The press release says, “[The temperatures] are the highest ever recorded for a 10-year period since the beginning of instrumental climate records.”
David Easterling, chief of the scientific services division at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, added, according to the Miami Herald: “The climate is continuing to show the influence of increasing greenhouse gases, showing evidence of warming. There has been some notion that people put forth that the climate stopped warming in about 2005. I think this year’s results show that notion lacks credibility.”
A recent study believes receding ice and snow could be partly blamed for global warming. The Christian Science Monitor cites research that says the lack of snow and ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere is hurting the ability of these “seasonal cloaks of white to reflect sunlight back into space and cool global climate.”
