Average annual temperatures in Britain have increased at a rate of about 0.18C
per decade since 1950, compared with the 0.12C global surface temperature
rise highlighted by the IPCC last month.
The speed of warming in the UK was highlighted in a policy note published on
Friday by the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, and the
Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.
The seven warmest years in the past 100 have all occurred since 2000 in
Britain, and six of the ten wettest years on record have come in the past 15
years, the authors noted.
Previous studies have warned that global warming is happening faster in
northern latitudes, and that land regions are heating faster than oceans.
The briefing document also claimed that global sea level, which is rising at a
rate of 3.2mm per year on average, could be more severe along the south-east
coast of England.