| WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The world’s temperature bumped up a
notch last year, rising 0.34 degrees Fahrenheit to make
1998 the warmest year on record.
"It
is really quite extraordinary. We’ve got
a record and it’s one of the largest increases
that we’ve ever seen in one year, " said D.
James Baker, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
In
recent years rising temperatures caused by human industrial
activity have raised concerns that the planet would
dangerously overheat. That led to the controversial
agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997
seeking to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other
gases thought to threaten the climate.
Other
scientists, however, contend that the temperature changes
could be the result of normal climate fluctuations and
say that, at any rate, some warming might do more good
than ill.
"One
has to say we’re seeing a combination of natural
phenomena and a very strong indication of human effects
here, we’re starting to get out of the range of
normal climatic variability," Baker said.
"We’ve got 20 years in a row with annual global
surface temperatures above the long-term average."
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The
NASA scientists, using NOAA and other data, calculated
an average 1998 worldwide temperature of about 58.496
degrees F., topping the record, set in 1995 of 58.154.
In
its separate calculations, NOAA’s National Climate
Data Center said 1998’s global average was 58.1
degrees, topping 1997, which is calculated as the previous
record year. NOAA readings for earlier years were
not immediately available because of a change in its
record keeping, however.
But
both NOAA and NASA agreed that 1998 is the new record
year.
And
the warming is beginning to hit home, NASA said.
The United States last year experienced its warmest
year in the past several decades.
Scientists
James Hansen, Reto Ruedy, Jay Glascoe and Makiko
Sato of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s
Goddard Institute for Space Studies based their findings
on data collected from thousands of meteorological stations
by NOAA. They also used satellite measurements
of ocean temperature to obtain a second measure of global
temperature change that is more uniformly spaced over
the world.
The
exact results will probably change slightly as late-reporting
station data are included, but late data will not alter
the conclusion that 1998 easily set records, the agency
said.
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