2010, 1998 hottest period on record: NOAA

NEW YORK: The combined land and ocean surface temperatures for the first nine months of 2010 along with the same period in 1998 was the the hottest period on record, according to US federal weather agency.

"For the year-to-date, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature of 14.75 Celsius tied with 1998 as the warmest January-September period on record," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) said.

"This value is 0.65 Celsius above the 20th century average."

"Warmer-than-average conditions dominated the world's land areas. The most prominent warmth was in western Alaska, most of the contiguous United States, eastern Canada, Greenland, the Middle East, eastern and central Europe, western and far eastern Russia and northeastern Asia," the analysis said.

Los Angeles set a new all-time maximum temperature on September 27 when temperatures soared to 45 Celsius surpassing the previous record of 44.4 Celsius set in June 1990.

Meanwhile, the Northern Territory of Australia had its coolest maximum temperatures since 1984 and Western Australia and Victoria each recorded their lowest maximum temperatures since 1992.

At the same time, Australia received an average precipitation of 1.91 inches (48.4 millimetres) during September, this is nearly double the 1961-1990 average and the highest September value on record.

Cooler-than-average regions included much of Australia, western Canada, parts of the northern United States, parts of western and central Europe, and central Russia.

The NOAA's National Climatic Data Centre has information dating back to 1880.

Further, the research found that the combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for September 2010 tied with 1998 as the eighth warmest on record at 15.5 Celsius which is 0.50 Celsius above the 20th century average of 15. 0 Celsius.

On the polar ice front, arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum on September 19, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre.

"This year also marked the 14th consecutive September with below-average Arctic sea ice extent," the NOAA said.

Meanwhile, the Antarctic sea ice reached its annual maximum in September and September 2010 was the third largest sea ice extent on record (2.3 per cent above average), behind 2006 (largest) and 2007 (second largest).