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2000s confirmed as warmest decade on record

Wednesday 6 January 2010, 9:23AM

By NIWA

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The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has confirmed that the decade of the 2000s was the warmest on record for New Zealand.

The decade 2000–2009 is slightly warmer for New Zealand than the decade of the 1980s, which was the previous warmest decade. “This result is caused by a combination of natural variability and a background warming trend,” says Dr James Renwick, NIWA Principal Scientist.

The New Zealand ‘ranking’ of warm decades is:
• Warmest: 2000s
• 2nd place: 1980s
• 3rd place: 1970s
• 4th place: 1990s

NIWA’s finding is consistent with a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) statement that the decade from 2000–2009 is likely to be the warmest decade on record for global average temperatures.

The WMO predicted that for the global as a whole 2009 would rank in the top ten warmest years on record. For New Zealand, however, the year 2009 itself was slightly colder than the 1971–2000 average. Full details will be issued on Wednesday 13 January 2010, when NIWA releases its official Annual Climate Summary for 2009.


Timetable for release of more NIWA climate information:
• Monthly Climate Summary for December 2009 – later this morning (6 Jan 2010)
• Seasonal Climate Outlook for January, February, March 2010 – tomorrow (7 Jan 2010)
• Annual Climate Summary for 2009 – one week from now (13 Jan 2010)

The full WMO statement is available at:
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_869_en.html