(RNN) - The surface of the Earth experienced record warmth for a third consecutive year, as well as other attributes consistent with a warming Earth, according to the 2016 State of the Climate report released Thursday.
Among the findings, the annual global surface temperature reached a record warmth for the third year in a row, ranging from 0.45° to 0.56° Celsius above the 1981–2010 average. The global sea surface temperate broke a record high.
The world's average sea level rose to a new record high in 2016 and was about 3.25 inches higher than the 1993 average.
The Arctic is warming faster than lower latitudes. The average temperature of land surfaces north of 60°N latitude rose 2.0°C above the 1981 to 2010 average and broke previous records set in 2007, 2011,and 2015 by 0.8°C. The warming represented a 3.5°C increase in temperature since recordkeeping began in 1900.
This warming trend has led to the Arctic having the smallest maximum sea ice extent since satellites began tracking it, and alpine glaciers lost an average of 2.8 feet, continuing a 37-year trend.
The Antarctic, too, experienced record low sea ice coverage, and overall, there was less snow and ice on planet Earth than normal last year.
The greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change rose last year to a global annual average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration of 402.9 parts per million, surpassing 400 ppm for the first time in the modern atmospheric measurement record and in ice core data that goes back 800,000 years.
In 2016, meteorologists recorded 93 named tropical storms worldwide - above the 1981 to 2010 average of 82, but fewer than the 101 storms in 2015.
The report is a peer-reviewed annual series led by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information and the American Meteorological Society, and is based on contributions from nearly 500 scientists from more than 60 countries.
