This year is likely to be the warmest on record for the northern hemisphere, according to the UK's Met Office. Mean sea and land temperatures for the first 11 months of 2005 were 0.65 degrees Celsius above the long-term average in the northern hemisphere. The southern hemisphere has shown slightly less warming, according to provisional figures compiled by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia, making 2005 the second warmest year globally since reliable records began in 1861. If December continues the trend, the 10 warmest years on record will all have occurred within the last 11 years.

Scientists think this is due to increased concen-trations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.