Nasa said that analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and themselves suggest that the earth's surface temperature in 2015 was the highest on record since record keeping began in 1880. Nasa released an animation showing the global warming temperatures over a 135 year period ending in 2015.

It said that global temperatures averaged in 2015 broke the previous record set in 2014 by 0.13<sup>C.

The organisation also said that the planet's average surface had increased by around 1<sup>C since the late-19th century, due largely to the increase in carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions in the atmosphere, the Nasa website said. Nasa added that most of the warming happened in the last 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years occurring since 2001.