UPDATED records of global temperatures stretching back more than 160 years confirm the world has warmed by around 0.75˚C since 1900, scientists said.
The new version of a temperature series dating back to 1850, by the Met Office Hadley Centre and East Anglia University, relies on more data and includes Canada and Russia where the Arctic is warming faster than other areas.
More information from other parts of the world – including Africa and Australia – has also been added, with data from an additional 500 stations in total to increase the coverage of land temperature records across the globe.
Differences in how sea surface temperature measurements were made in the past, from buckets or from ships' engine rooms, have also been addressed.
Colin Morice, research scientist at the Met Office, said: "The study brings together our latest and most comprehensive databases of land and marine temperature observations, along with advances in our understanding of how measurements were made at sea.
"These have combined to give us a clearer picture of what the historical record can tell us about global climate change.
"Updates have resulted in some changes to individual years in the nominal global mean temperature record, but have not changed the overall warming signal of about 0.75˚C since 1900."
The latest study suggests that 2010 and 2005 were the warmest years on record.
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