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Record heat continues in January: WMO

china.org.cn / chinagate.cn, February 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Record heat experienced in 2015 continued in January 2016, fuelled by the ongoing El Niño and long-term climate change, the World Meteorological Organization said in a recent statement.

The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for January 2016 was the highest for the month since record keeping began in 1880, at 1.04°C above the 20th century average. Ocean surface temperatures were also highest for the month, while land surface temperatures were second highest on record, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

January 2016 also marks the ninth consecutive month to break a monthly global temperature record, according to the monthly summary is developed by scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Moreover, the WMO pointed out that Arctic sea ice extent was the smallest on the satellite record.

The average Arctic sea ice extent for January was 410,000 square miles (7.14 percent) below the 1981-2010 average. This was the smallest January extent since records began in 1979 and 35,000 square miles smaller than the previous record of 2011, according to analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center based on data from NOAA and NASA.