This year is set to be the 10th warmest on record, say meteorologists.

Climate researchers in the UK said that temperatures in 2011 were nearing the top of records dating back to 1850.

This despite a 'strong and persistent' La Nina weather system in the Pacific - an effect which should lead to lower temperatures across the world.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released the figures based on three sets of independent data, including a joint one from the University of East Anglia (UAE) - currently mired in controversy - and the Met Office, at a climate change conference in Durban this week.

However, only last week researchers at UAE were criticised for colluding with politicians to ‘massage’ evidence of man-made climate change after 5,000 emails were leaked online.

The WMO released the figures as 200 nations meet in Durban, South Africa, for the latest UN talks on agreeing a deal to tackle climate change.

The organisation, whose data also includes figures from the US, put the global average temperature at 0.41C above the 1961 to 1990 average of 14C, making it the 10th warmest on record.

According to the WMO, the 13 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 15 years between 1997 and 2011.

The Met Office/UAE also suggested a long-term warming trend in the global climate.

Their data shows the average global temperature for January to October 2011 was 14.36C, 0.36C above the 1961 to 1990 long-term average of 14C.

The WMO's final figure is an average of the three sets of data.

According to their researchers, each decade since the 1950s has been warmer than the previous decade, and last year was one of the warmest on record.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)