'Earth on track to warmest year on record'

The globally averaged temperatures for October as well as the January-to-October period were both the highest on record since record keeping began in 1880, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said.

"Five of the past six months have been record warm for their respective months; July was fourth warmest," Xinhua quoted the NOAA as stating in a monthly report Thursday. adding that this year "is currently on track to be the warmest year on record".

According to the US agency, the combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for October was 14.74 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record of 2003 by 0.01 degrees Celsius.

Warmer-than-average temperatures were evident over most of the global land surface, except for large parts of central Asia, it said.

"Record warmth was notable across a large area of southern South America, the US western coastal regions, far east Russia, parts of southern and southeastern Asia, much of southern and western Australia, and parts of southern Europe," said the NOAA.

For the first 10 months, the combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was 14.78 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record set in 1998 and 2010 by 0.02 degrees Celsius.