MIAMI: Rising temperatures across the planet have set more new records, as the US government announced on Friday that the globe experienced its hottest month of March since record-keeping began in 1880.

The period of January to March was also the warmest on record, said the monthly report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The latest data, which takes into account global averages across land and sea surfaces, follows announcements from the same US government scientists that 2014 was the hottest year in modern history.

Scientists warn that fossil fuel burning is pushing more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, leading to increased temperatures, melting of polar ice and glaciers, and rising seas.

For March, the average global temperature was 0.85 Celsius above the 20th-century average.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play