CLIMATE scientists have warned that 2010 could turn out to be the warmest year in recorded history.
They have collated global surface temperature measurements showing that the world has experienced near-record highs between January and April.
Researchers working independently at the Met Office and Nasa are soon to publish data that reveal the trend is likely to continue for the rest of the year.
James Hansen, director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss), a world centre for climate monitoring, said: “Global temperatures, averaged over the past 12 months, were the warmest for 130 years.
“December to February was also the second-warmest of any such period.”
Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, said: “It was a cold winter in Europe but, globally, January to March was one of the seven warmest starts to the year on record.
“This year has more than a 50% chance of being the warmest on record.”
The average global surface temperature is based on measurements taken from thousands of monitoring stations and satellites. These measurements are collated and independently analysed by the Met Office, Giss and at the National Climatic Data Center in North Carolina.
The Giss record shows that from January to April this year the global temperature was elevated by an average of 0.75C, compared with benchmark temperatures.
Climate change was not the only suspected cause.
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