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2008 to join warmest years

05 January 2008

2008 is set to join the top ten warmest years despite being cooler globally than recent years, scientists have said.

Climate researchers at the Met Office and University of East Anglia say global temperature is expected to be 0.37C above the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14C.

This will be the coolest year since 2000 when the value was 0.24C above average.

The prediction, made at the start of each year, takes into account known contributing factors such as El Nino and La Nina; increasing greenhouse gas concentrations; cooling influences of industrial aerosol particles; solar effects; and natural variations of the oceans.

Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, said: "The fact that 2008 is forecast to be cooler than any of the last seven years (and that 2007 did not break the record warmth set on 1998) does not mean that global warming has gone away.

"What matters is the underlying rate of warming - the period 2001-2007 with an average of 0.44C above the 1961-90 average was 0.21C warmer than corresponding values for the period 1991-2000."

The current warmest year was 1998, which was 0.52C above the long-term 1961-1990 average because it was dominated by an extreme El Nino.

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