DHAKA: This year has been recorded the highest land and ocean April temperatures on record, keeping 2016 on track to be the hottest year yet and by the biggest edge ever.

New data released by NASA put April at 1.11 degrees Celsius warmer than average April temperatures between 1951 to 1980, which NASA uses as a reference point to study recent climate change.

It was the seventh month in a row to rise by at least 1 degree Celsius above the 1951-80 reference averages, CNN reports on Monday (May 16).

The data that just keeps getting worse has prompted scientists to declare a "climate emergency" and is already casting doubts on pledges made in the Paris agreement to keep temperature rises well below the 2 degrees Celsius that scientists say will have catastrophic consequences on the planet.

The agreement was hammered out in December but signed in record-breaking April, with the ambitious aim to cap temperature rises at 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.

BDST: 1723 HRS, May 16, 2016
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