1.25.2006
2005 Was the Hottest Year in a Century (CNN.com)
Tuesday, January 24, 2006 Posted: 2308 GMT (0708 HKT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Last year was the warmest in a century, nosing out 1998, a federal analysis concludes.
Researchers calculated that 2005 produced the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s, said James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The result confirms a prediction the institute made in December.
In a telephone interview, Hansen said the analysis estimated temperatures in the Arctic from nearby weather stations because no direct data were available. Because of that, "we couldn't say with 100 percent certainty that it's the warmest year, but I'm reasonably confident that it was," Hansen said.
More important, he said, is that 2005 reached the warmth of 1998 without help of the "El Nino of the century" that pushed temperatures up in 1998.
(More ... CNN.com - 2005 was the hottest year in a century - Jan 24, 2006) ¶ 22:13
NEW YORK (AP) -- Last year was the warmest in a century, nosing out 1998, a federal analysis concludes.
Researchers calculated that 2005 produced the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s, said James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The result confirms a prediction the institute made in December.
In a telephone interview, Hansen said the analysis estimated temperatures in the Arctic from nearby weather stations because no direct data were available. Because of that, "we couldn't say with 100 percent certainty that it's the warmest year, but I'm reasonably confident that it was," Hansen said.
More important, he said, is that 2005 reached the warmth of 1998 without help of the "El Nino of the century" that pushed temperatures up in 1998.
(More ... CNN.com - 2005 was the hottest year in a century - Jan 24, 2006) ¶ 22:13
