Record-breaking temperatures around the world last year made 2014 the hottest in more than a century, raising new concerns about global warming, US government scientists said yesterday.
A report by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was confirmed by independent analysis from NASA that reached the same conclusion.
“Record warmth was spread around the world,” said the report. “The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2014 was the highest among all years since record-keeping began in 1880.”
For the year, the average temperature was 0.69C above the 20th century average, beating the previous record-holding years of 2005 and 2010 by 0.04C.
Parts of the world that had record heat included Russia, western Alaska, the western United States, parts of