2016 set to break record for world's warmest year

Scientists are confident that 2016 is set to be the warmest year on record globally, as fears grow that the recently introduced Paris Agreement could be in jeopardy after the election of Donald Trump as US president last week.

Using data gathered from the first nine months of the year, scientists from the World Meteorological Organization have said that they are 90% certain that this year will pass the levels of 2016.

The research shows that the biggest factor in the temperature rise remains carbon dioxide emissions. Temperatures in the first nine months of 2016 rose to 0.88 degrees above the average for 1961-1990.

The document was released ahead of a meeting in Marrakech of key negotiators who are discussing the Paris Climate Agreement, which came into effect earlier this month.

"Another year. Another record. The high temperatures we saw in 2015 are set to be beaten in 2016," said secretary-general of the WMO Petteri Taalas.

"In parts of Arctic Russia, temperatures were 6°C to 7°C above the long-term average. Many other Arctic and sub-Arctic regions in Russia, Alaska and north-west Canada were at least 3°C above average. We are used to measuring temperature records in fractions of a degree, and so this is different," Taalas said.

The early forecast for 2017 is that of another very hot twelve month period, but perhaps not another record breaker. With the expected slowdown of the El Niño weather phenomenon, Peter Scott from the Met Office told the Guardian that it would not reach unprecedented levels, but the danger remains.

"As the El Niño wanes, we don't anticipate that 2017 will be another record-breaking year," said Scott. "But 2017 is likely to be warmer than any year prior to the last two decades because of the underlying extent of warming."