This decade breaks records in table of world's hottest years

Eight years in the past decade are in the world's ten hottest, according to Met Office statistics

Times Online, December 14, 2007

Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter

This decade looks set to be the hottest on record and this year is almost certain to be the seventh warmest worldwide since 1850.

Eight years in the past decade are in the world's ten hottest, according to Met Office statistics released to coincide with the United Nations conference in Bali on climate change.

The figures also show that 2007 has been a warm year for the United Kingdom, even though most of the summer appeared to have been washed away by record-breaking deluges.

In the UK 2007 is expected to be the third hottest since nationwide records began in 1914. In this set of data, the past six years are all in the top six.

The readings were hailed as further justification among scientists for demands that world leaders meeting at the UN summit must agree international reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide.

Myles Allen, of the University of Oxford, went as far as to say that the statistics were as good as telling politicians and bureaucrats: "We told you so."

"These figures come as no surprise to climate scientists," he said. "Global temperatures are rising almost exactly as we predicted they would more than 15 years ago as a result of human activity.

"While there is still plenty of work to be done on the implications, the scientific debate over whether rising greenhouse gas levels are the principal cause of this warming has effectively been dead for years, despite the heroic efforts of some sections of the media to keep it on life support."

Peter Falloon, of the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: "This is an extraordinary run of hottest years and can only deepen our concerns about the seriousness of global warming."

The study was carried out by researchers from the Met Office and the University of East Anglia, who agreed that the measurements provided further evidence that the world is warming up. By releasing the figures as Michel Jarraud, the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organisation, spoke in Bali, they hoped to em-phasise to delegates the evidence for global warming and the urgency with which it needs to be addressed.

Every year since 2001, including that year, has made it into the Top Ten warmest years, and 1998 was the hottest of all, whereas the last time that a year fell below the 1961-90 global temperature average was in 1985.

At the beginning of the year, 2007 was assessed as having a 60 per cent chance of being the hottest yet but initial fears that it would break all temperature records eased when the La Ni?a event took effect after April.

"The year began with a weak El Nino - the warmer relation of La Nina - and global temperatures well above the long-term average," Phil Jones, the director of the UEA's Climatic Research Unit, said.

"However, since the end of April the La Ni?a event has taken some of the heat out of what could have been an even warmer year."

He added: "2007 was warmer in the northern hemisphere, where the year ranks second warmest, than the southern hemisphere, where it ranks ninth warmest."

David Parker, a Met Office climate scientist, said: "This year has also seen sea-ice extent in the northern hemisphere below average in each month of 2007, with record minima sea ice reported in July, August and September. In the southern hemisphere, sea ice coverage has remained close to average."

Vicky Pope, of the Met Office Hadley Centre, is one of the scientists at the two-week Bali summit, which continues tomorrow. She said: "The last few days have provided an important platform for debate and confirm the need for swift action to combat further rises in global temperatures because of human behaviour."

The annual temperature figures published yesterday were a further cause for alarm about the warming trend that scientists have concluded is caused mainly by Man through greenhouse gas emissions.

Paul Williams, a climate modeller at the University of Reading, said: "This is further evidence that the pace of global warming is accelerating at an alarming rate.

"The need for action has never been greater, and yet nations are still dragging their feet in Bali. We must urgently start treating the atmosphere more like a vital reservoir and less like a sewer."