WASHINGTON — Last year was the eighth-warmest on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
The world’s temperature in 2008 tied that of 2001, according to the center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Preliminary calculations show the world’s average for 2008 was 0.88 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 57.0 degrees F.
The ranking means that all of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997.
Climate scientists around the world have raised concerns about global warming caused by the so-called greenhouse effect, in which chemicals, largely generated by human activity, trap solar radiation.
Researchers fear changes in storm patterns, damage to crops and wildlife, droughts and disease.
The climate center noted that since 1880, the annual combined global land and ocean surface temperature has increased at a rate of 0.09 degrees F (0.05 degrees Celsius) per decade.
