2005 was warmest year on record: NASA

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year was the warmest recorded on Earth's surface, and it was unusually hot in the Arctic, U.S. space agency NASA said on Tuesday.

All five of the hottest years since modern record-keeping began in the 1890s occurred within the last decade, according to analysis by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

In descending order, the years with the highest global average annual temperatures were 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, NASA said in a statement.

"It's fair to say that it probably is the warmest since we have modern meteorological records," said Drew Shindell of the NASA institute in New York City.

"Using indirect measurements that go back farther, I think it's even fair to say that it's the warmest in the last several thousand years."

Some researchers had expected 1998 would be the hottest year on record, notably because a strong El Nino -- a warm-water pattern in the eastern Pacific -- boosted global temperatures.

But Shindell said last year was slightly warmer than 1998, even without any extraordinary weather pattern. Temperatures in the Arctic were unusually warm in 2005, NASA said.

"That very anomalously warm year (1998) has become the norm," Shindell said in a telephone interview.

"The rate of warming has been so rapid that this temperature that we only got when we had a real strong El Nino now has become something that we've gotten without any unusual worldwide weather disturbance."

Over the past 30 years, Earth has warmed by 1.08 degrees F (0.6 degrees C), NASA said. Over the past 100 years, it has warmed by 1.44 degrees F (0.8 degrees C).

Shindell, in line with the view held by most scientists, attributed the rise to emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, with the burning of fossil fuels being the primary source.

The 21st century could see global temperature increases of 6 to 10 degrees F (3 to 5 degrees C), Shindell said.

"That will really bring us up to the warmest temperatures the world has experienced probably in the last million years," he said.

To understand whether the Earth is cooling or warming, scientists use data from weather stations on land, satellite measurements of sea surface temperature since 1982, and data from ships for earlier years.

More information and images are available online at: www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/2005_warmest.html.

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Study: Global Warming May Raise Sea Levels By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer
Thu Jan 26, 2:29 PM ET



Global warming will cause sea levels to rise up to 34 centimeters (11 inches) by the end of the century, causing increased flooding and coastal erosion, according to a new study by Australian researchers.

The study — published in this month's issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters — said global warming was expected to further heat up the world's oceans and cause glaciers in the Himalayas and ice sheets in Greenland to melt.

The study estimated sea levels would increase between 28 centimeters (11 inches) to 34 centimeters (13 inches) by 2100.

"What we found is that sea levels are rising and increasing with time," said John Church, a co-author of the study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the Australian government main research body.

"It means there will be increased flooding of low-lying areas when there are storm surges," he said. "It means increased coastal erosion on sandy beaches. We're going to see increased flooding on island nations."

Most scientists believe greenhouse gases from human activities like coal-burning power plants cause global warming by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 50 percent by 2050, Church said.

"If not, climate change will continue and increase in magnitude," he said. "I think governments around the world, including Australia, have started the process, but there is a long ways to go and I would argue that it's urgent."

Clive Wilkinson, coordinator of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, a nongovernment group that follows closely developments on rising seas, said the findings were in line with what many scientists have predicted about global warming.

"It fits a pattern that everyone is coming up with," Wilkinson said. "It means we are in real trouble. If you add another meter (yard) over coral reefs, it won't notice it. But the rising water would flood any low-lying areas. Coral island like Tuvalu, Maldives and Kiribati will become uninhabitable."

By examining tidal data, Church said sea levels rose by 19.5 centimeters (7.7 inches) between 1870 and 2004. The increases accelerated with time, averaging 1.7 millimeters (0.07 inches) a year in the 20th century and 1.8 millimeters in the past 50 years.

Church said sea increases were previously estimated based on climate change models. He said his team's research was the first to document rises based on extensive historical tidal data, allowing predictions on sea-level increases to be made with greater precision.

Many island nations are already feeling the impact of rising seas. In Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific, increased sea levels have forced hundreds of islanders to abandon vulnerable coastal homes for higher ground, according to the United Nations and news reports.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol mandates specific reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases by 2012 in 35 industrialized countries that are blamed for causing the warming of earth's atmosphere. The U.S. and Australia rejected the treaty in part because they feared mandatory cuts would cause economic hardship.

Church said containing greenhouse gas emissions would help stem increases, but added sea levels would rise nonetheless.

"We do have to reduce our emissions but we also have to recognize climate change is happening, and we have to adapt as well," Church said.


Study: Global Warming May Raise Sea Levels