Climate Change: Global Warming

Question

Asked by

Lord Williams of Elvel
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their estimates of global warming for each of the years 1998 to 2008 inclusive; and what is the cumulative estimate for the whole period. [HL2665]

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)
Observations collated at the Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit indicate that global average near-surface temperatures during each of the years 1998 to 2008 inclusive, relative to the late 19th century (1861-1900), were: 0.80, 0.55, 0.53, 0.69, 0.74, 0.75, 0.72, 0.77, 0.71, 0.69 and 0.60 degrees centigrade. The average for the period was 0.69 degrees centigrade warmer than the late 19th century. Much of this average warming can be ascribed to human activities and nine of the 10 warmest years on record all occurred between 1998 and 2008. It should be noted that short-timescale natural fluctuations in temperature are superimposed upon the long-term underlying warming trend due to increases in greenhouse gases, such that differences between individual years do not fit the underlying trend.