Last year was the fourth warmest on record, continuing the trend of the Earth warming due to gases, the European climate change agency Copernicus announced on Monday.
The average air temperature was 14,7 degrees Celsius, only 0,2 degrees lower than the record, according to the first global assessment based on year-round data.
And 2019 will probably be warm, say scientists at the agency.
"Dramatic climate events such as dry and hot summers in large areas of Europe or rising temperatures around the Arctic are alarming signs for all of us," said Jean-Noel Tepaus, head of Copernicus.
Among other extremes in 2018, California and Greece suffered massive wildfires, Kerala in India experienced its worst flooding since the 20s, and a heat wave hit parts of the planet from Australia to North Africa.
Around Antarctica, the area under sea ice is at its lowest level at the beginning of 2010, according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Center, reports Hina.
The past four years have been the warmest on average since temperature records began in the 19th century. 2016 was the warmest year, thanks to El Niño warming the surface of the Pacific Ocean, followed by 2017.
The Copernicus report states that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a new record of 406,7 ppm, compared to 404,1 in 2017, mainly thanks to the burning of fossil fuels.
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