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 Editorials | Environmental | February 2007 
Warmest January Ever Recorded Worldwide in 2007: US Scientists
 Agence France-Presse
| | Sir Richard Branson throws a globe into the air watched by former US Vice-President Al Gore at a presentation to announce the Virgin Earth Challenge - a $US25 million prize for the scientist who comes up with a way of extracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. (AP) |
World temperatures in January were the highest ever recorded for that month of the year, US government scientists said.
"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 Center in Asheville, N.C.
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit (0.85 Celsius) warmer than the 20th-century average of 53.6 degrees F (12 C) for January based on preliminary data, NOAA said.
The figures surpass the previous record set in 2002 at 1.28 F (0.71 C) above average.
Land surface temperature was a record 3.40 F (1.89 C) warmer than average, while global ocean surface temperature was the fourth warmest in 128 years, about 0.1 F (0.05 C) 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," it said.
"During the past century, global surface temperatures have increased at a rate near 0.11 F (0.06 C) per decade, but the rate of increase has been three times larger since 1976, or 0.32 F (0.18 C) per decade, with some of the largest temperature increases occurring in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere," it said. |
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