Temperature records shattered by record margins so far in 2016

A record surge in temperatures in2016, linked to global warming and an El Nino weather event inthe Pacific, is adding urgency to a deal by 195 governments inDecember to curb greenhouse gas emissions to slow climatechange, scientists said on Monday.

Average global temperatures last month were 1.35 degreeCelsius (2.4 Fahrenheit) above normal for February, the biggesttemperature excess recorded for any month against a baseline of1951-80, according to NASA data released onthe weekend.

The previous record was set in January, stoked by factorsincluding a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere andthe strong El Nino event, which releases heat from the Pacific.

"I think even the hard-core climate people are looking atthis and saying: 'What on Earth'?" David Carlson, director of
the World Climate Research Programme at the UN's WorldMeteorological Organization, said of the leap in temperatures.

"It's startling," he told Reuters. "It's definitely achanged planet ... It makes us nervous about the long-term
impact." Scientists say global warming is causing more powerfuldownpours, droughts and rising sea levels.

Jean-Noel Thepaut, head of the Copernicus Climate ChangeService at the European Centre for Medium-Range WeatherForecasts, said the long-term trend of warming "makes theimplementation of the Paris agreement urgent."

15 of 16 record years were since 2000

He noted that 15 of the 16 warmest years since records beganwere in the 21st century.

In December 2015, 195 nations agreed in Paris to a climatedeal with a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to a netzero by 2100, shifting from fossil fuels in favour of greenerenergies such as solar and wind power.

They set a goal of limiting global warming to "well below"2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times, while "pursuing efforts"
for a 1.5C (2.7F) limit.

Phil Jones, of the Climatic Research Unit at the Universityof East Anglia, said El Nino seemed less to blame for the
current surge than the last big El Nino in 1998.

"Based on 1998, March and probably April will also be verywarm, before the El Nino influence wanes," he told Reuters.

Ice in the Arctic Ocean was at the lowest recorded forFebruary, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said.

At Longyearbyen, on a Norwegian Arctic island, temperatureshit a peak of 6.6C (44F) on Jan. 2, against an icy average for anormal January of -15.3C (4.5F), data from the NorwegianMeteorological Institute showed.

Reidun Skaland, a climate expert at the Institute, saidthere were always big swings in Arctic weather, "but it is a
warning message when you see such high temperatures. There's anincreasing trend."