The warming in the equatorial pacific contributed to making the '2002 global mean surface temperature the second highest on record', the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organisation has said in 'Word Climate News'.
The global mean surface temperature was 0.48 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 annual average, it said.
The warmest year remains 1998, in which surface temperature averaged 0.55 degrees Celsius above the same 30-year mean, it added.
The five warmest years, in decreasing order, in this period of record are now 1998, 2002, 2001, 1995 and 1997.
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