Global temperatures to rise in 2009

Climate experts have predicted that next year will be one of the five warmest years since records began.

The average global temperature for 2009 is expected to be almost half a degree Celsius above the long term average, making next year considerably warmer than this year and the hottest since 2005.

Next year is expected to be in the top five warmest years on record, despite the cooling influence of the Pacific weather phenomenon known as La Nina, in which cold waters rise to the surface and cool down ocean and land temperatures.

Scientists also predicted a rapid return to long-term warming for global temperatures and an increased probability of record temperatures after 2009.

Currently, the warmest year on record is 1998, which was dominated by the warming influence of an extreme El Nino and saw average temperatures of 14.52C -well above the 1961to 1990 long-term average of 14C.