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Warming update

Satellite data: World warming by 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

Despite widspread cooling across the tropical Pacific, the worldwide temperature once again was well-above long-term averages in 2011.

According to satellite data released this afternoon by NASA's John Christy at the University of Alabama, the 2011 temperature was 0.27 degrees Fahrenheit over the 33-year average.

That made it the ninth-warmest year in the satellite period of record, but not as toasty  as 2011, 0.73 degrees above average, the second-warmest on record.

Christy said based on the available satellite data, the planet has warmed at the rate of 0.2 degrees per decade, or 2 degrees per century.

The month-by-month data is available here.