2007 second hottest year on record

The year 2007 was tied for the second-hottest on record, according to sobering global figures just released by NASA's climate centre.

While 2007 fell just short of the global record set in 2005, it continues the worrying trend that has seen a string of recent years hotter than anything since records begin in the 1880s.

The six hottest years, in descending order, are 2005, 2007 and 1998 (tied), 2002, 2003 and 2006.

Climatologists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City used temperature data from weather stations on land, satellite measurements of sea ice temperature since 1982 and data from ships for earlier years.

He said it's unlikely that 2008 will set any record. But he said a record year even hotter than 2005 "can be expected within the next few years, at the time of the next El Nino," because greenhouse gases copntinue to build up in Earth's atmosphere.

The eight warmest years in the NASA record have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years in the record have all occurred since 1990.