The past decade was the warmest on record, according to a new analysis unveiled today at the international climate change summit in Copenhagen.
The World Meteorological Association held a news conference in Copenhagen to announce a provisional summary of their study.
They found that the overall global warming trend is continuing and shows no signs of stopping. The data shows our current decade is likely to be the warmest in the past 150 years, and:
- 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)
Among their other findings:
- 2009 is likely to rank as the fifth warmest year worldwide since we started keeping records in 1850.
- Large parts of southern Asia and central Africa are likely to have the warmest year on record.
- Above-normal temperatures were recorded in most parts of the continents this year.
- Only North America (United States and Canada) experienced conditions that were cooler than average.
- This year, Arctic sea ice extent during the melt season ranked the third lowest, after the lowest and second-lowest records set in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
The final figures will be published in March 2010.
The New York Times has a good article on the subject if you want to read more.