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| Last decade warmest on record: WMO chief |
| Betwa Sharma/ PTI / Copenhagen Dec 08, 2009, 20:35 IST |
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As negotiators from 193 nations were busy negotiating a historic deal on cutting carbon emissions, the UN's top weather agency today said that the world, including parts of India were experiencing the hottest decade on record.
"The decade 2000-2009 is very likely to be the warmest on record, warmer than the 1990s, which were in turn warmer than the 1980s," World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Secretary General Michel Jarraud told a press conference here.
Jarraud also said that the year 2009 would probably rank as the fifth warmest since accurate records were started in 1850.
The global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature for 2009 (January–October) is currently estimated at 0.44 degree centigrade above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14.00 degree centigrade. The current nominal ranking of 2009, which does not account for uncertainties in the annual averages, places it as the fifth-warmest year, the WMO says.
The decade of the 2000s (2000–2009) was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s (1990–1999), which in turn was warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989).
The WMO noted that above-normal temperatures were recorded in most parts of the continents in 2009.
India had an extreme heatwave event during May, which caused 150 deaths. A heatwave hit northern China during June, with daily maximum temperatures above 40°C; historical maximum temperature records were broken for the summer in some locations.
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