The rate of global warming may be speeding up, mainly due to a reduction in air pollution, and its impacts are being felt both in hot countries and cold.
Analysis suggested the Earth is warming at 0.35°C (0.2°F) per decade, up from around 0.2°C in the 1970s. Some scientists dispute the precise number, but told Nature that there had certainly been an acceleration.
The perhaps ironic primary cause is regulations on international shipping reducing pollutant particles, which reflected sunlight into space.
The number of days per year worldwide that are too hot to engage in ordinary activities has doubled since 1950, separate research found, while Arctic sea ice is at its lowest level on record.
