NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.
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Last year was the eighth-warmest year on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
Preliminary calculations show the world’s average temperature for 2008 was 0.88 degree above the 20th century average of 57 degrees.
All of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997. 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 per decade.
NASA, which uses a slightly different method of calculating temperatures, has rated 2008 as the ninth-warmest on record.
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