The last decade was the world's warmest on record

The last decade was the world's warmest on record.

Nasa said global surface temperatures have risen by 0.8C since 1880 then levelled off by 1970. But since then, they found an "upward trend" of about 0.2C for each decade.

And 2009 was the world's joint second warmest year since 1880, beaten only by 2005, and the warmest in the Southern Hemisphere.

The findings are a blow to climate change sceptics who claim the world has cooled since 1998.

James Hansen, of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said: "There's substantial year-to-year variability due to the tropical La Nina cycle. When we average temperatures out, global warming continues unabated."

Source:mirror.co.uk/