WASHINGTON: The global surface temperature in 2018 was the fourth warmest in the modern record, showed annual analyses released.

Global temperatures in 2018 rank behind those of 2016, 2017 and 2015 and the past five years are, collectively, the warmest years since 1880, according to scientists at the United States space agency NASA.

The temperature last year were 0.83 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to NASA.

“2018 is yet again an extremely warm year on top of a long-term global warming trend,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

The average global surface temperature has risen about 1 degree Celsius since 1880s, a clear signal that our planet is warming, according to NASA.

In an independent analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2018 global temperatures were 0.79 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average.

It was largely driven by increased emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases caused by human activities, according to Schmidt.

app