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Wednesday, December 20, 2000, updated at 10:03(GMT+8) | |||||||||||||
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Global Climate Warmer Than Normal in 2000: WMOThe year 2000 has continued the run of warm years in spite of the persistent cooling influence of the tropical Pacific La Nina, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday, December 19.The global average surface temperature is likely to be about 0. 32 degree Celsius above the climatological average for the period 1961-1990, according to the WMO. This is similar to 1999, which was the fifth warmest year in the past 140 years. The warmer years were 1998, 1997, 1995 and 1990. The 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1983, with eight of these occurring since 1990. As the new century begins, the WMO said, the global mean temperature is 0.6 degree above those at the start of the 20th century. The year 2000 will be the 22nd consecutive year with the global mean surface temperature above the 1961-1990 normal. Most of the non-tropical Northern Hemisphere experienced above average temperatures in each season. However, the WMO noted, the eastern tropical Pacific was colder than usual throughout most of the year as La Nina was strong at the beginning of the year, weakened during July and August and showed signs of reappearing at year's end. The remainder of the tropics and the non-tropical Southern Hemisphere had a variety of anomalies, with a predominance of warmth. In the atmospheric layer from the surface to 8 kilometer altitude, routine temperature measurements made by instruments on weather balloons and satellites showed that the year 2000 was similar to 1999 in being very close to the 1979-1999 average, the WMO said. In the lower stratosphere (8 km to 12 km altitude), 2000 was not as cold as 1999 (the coldest year in the 36-year record) but was still nearly one degree colder than the 1979-1990 average.
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