(Source: NASA Website)

      BEIJING, Jan. 25 -- The year 2005 was the warmest recorded on Earth's surface in a century, U.S. space agency NASA said on Tuesday.

    Even without any extraordinary weather pattern, last year was slightly warmer than 1998, the previous record holder, when a strong El Nino in the eastern Pacific Ocean warmed global temperatures. What's more, temperatures in the Arctic were unusually warm in 2005, NASA said.

    "It's fair to say that it probably is the warmest since we have modern meteorological records," said Drew Shindell of the NASA institute in New York City.

    All five of the hottest years since modern record-keeping began in the 1890s occurred within the last decade, according to analysis by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The other warm years in descending order were 2002, 2003 and 2004, NASA said.

This colorful global map of 2005 average temperatures shows areas that have warmed the most in red, to the areas that have cooled (in blue). Note that the Arctic has warmed significantly. These temperatures are from Dec. 2004 through Nov. 2005. (Source: NASA Website)

    Over the past 30 years, Earth has warmed by 1.08 degrees F (0.6 degrees C), NASA said. Over the past 100 years, it has warmed by 1.44 degrees F (0.8 degrees C).

    Most scientists attributed the rise to emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbondioxide, methane and ozone, with the burning of fossil fuels being the primary source.

    The 21st century could see global temperature increases of 6 to 10 degrees F (3 to 5 degrees C), Shindell said.

    "That will really bring us up to the warmest temperatures the world has experienced probably in the last million years," he said. Enditem

    (Agencies)