Provisional figures for 2005 compiled by the Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia (UEA) show that the northern hemisphere is experiencing its warmest ever year.

To the end of November mean-sea temperature and land temperature is currently 0.65 °C above the long-term average.

The temperature anomaly in the southern hemisphere of 0.32 °C is the fourth warmest - globally the year to date is the second warmest in a record dating back to 1861. This continues the recent trend of increasing global temperature, and the ten warmest years have all occurred in the last 11 years.

Satellite observations of Arctic sea ice in September revealed that the ice has dropped to its lowest recorded summer extent since these began in the 1970s. However, there has been little change around Antarctica during the year, continuing the trend of the last 20 years.

In the UK, 2005 has been yet another warm year. The current anomaly of the Central England Temperature (CET) is 1.07 °C above normal and within the top 10 warmest years in the 347-year record.

Adam Scaife, a Climate Variability scientist at the Met Office Hadley Centre said: "These figures show that global warming is continuing and are consistent with what we expect to occur from our research into greenhouse gas emissions".

More about the Met Office Hadley Centre

Notes to editors

A joint statement from the Met Office and UEA on the 2005 climate is available that includes tables and figures relating to this year's temperature figures.

The global statistics are compiled for areal averages using data from land and sea, which have been analysed by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia. Note that all figures are provisional and that the final figures for 2005 will be released in February 2006.

Download Statement on the climate of 2005 (PDF, 619 kb)