'Extreme year': 2016 declared hottest year on record as climate change builds on big El Nino

The world's major meteorological agencies have declared 2016 to be the hottest year on record - making it three new highs in as many years - as increases in greenhouse gases drove global warming.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies said global sea and land temperatures last year were 0.99 degrees warmer than average for the 1951-1980 benchmark period, eclipsing the previous high set only a year earlier by 0.12 degrees.

The World Meteorological Organisation, which uses data from NASA, the UK Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, said temperatures in 2016 were about 1.1 degrees higher than the pre-industrial period, or about 0.83 degrees above the 1961-1990 reference period. That beat the 2015 record by 0.07 degrees. 

"2016 was an extreme year for the global climate and stands out as the hottest year on record," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “'Extreme year': 2016 declared hottest year on record as climate change builds on big El Nino.”