World keeps warming

British weather experts say the first six months of 2002 have been the second warmest ever, and average worldwide temperatures this year could be highest on record.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body that advises governments on climatic change, blames the data on global warming caused by increased amounts of greenhouse gases trapping heat in the atmosphere.

A scientist with the British Meteorological Office said the rise in global temperatures before 1970 can be blamed partly on polluting activities and partly on natural effects, but since 1970 scientists generally agree the rise can be attributed mainly to man’s polluting activities.

The office said global temperatures were .57 °C higher than the long-term average of about 15 °C from January to June.