Extreme weather conditions including Arctic heatwaves will continue this year, pushing our climate systems into 'unchartered territory', say experts.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that drastic shifts in the global climate system appear to be getting worse.

Scientists believe WMO's ground-breaking annual report leaves 'no doubt' that there is a link between global warming and fossil fuel emissions.

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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that drastic shifts in the global climate system appear to be getting worse. Shown here are various results from reports at different institutions that show the global average anomaly (the temperature difference compared with the long-term average) increasing

KEY WEATHER WARNINGS In 2016 average sea surface temperatures were the highest on record. At least three times so far this winter the Arctic has had the Polar equivalent of a heatwave. Antarctic sea ice is at 'a record low'. Last year, global average temperatures were about 1.1 degree Celsius (1.98 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial period. There has been 60 per cent less rainfall than the average in Africa. Changes in the Arctic and melting sea ice were leading to a shift in wider oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns. This in turn is affecting weather elsewhere in the world, since it impacts the waves in the jet stream - a fast-moving band of air that helps regulate temperature. Newly released studies indicate that ocean heat content has increased more than previously anticipated. Advertisement

Last year topped the global temperature charts, with shrinking sea ice and surging sea levels, but 2017 looks like it could be even worse according to the WMO.

'We are now in truly unchartered territory,' David Carlson, head of the World Climate Research Programme, said in a release from the WMO.

He said that even without a strong El Nino - a phenomenon that brings generally warmer temperatures every four to five years - 2017 was seeing 'remarkable changes' which are challenging our understanding of the climate system.

The warning came as the WMO published on Tuesday its annual report on the state of the global climate, confirming previously released figures showing that 2016 was the warmest year on record.

'The WMO's statement on the 2016 climate leaves no room for doubt', said Dr Phil Williamson, Associate Fellow at the University of East Anglia.

'The much-hyped warming hiatus is over – and the 'missing' heat energy didn't go missing at all. Instead that heat went into the ocean, and we got much of it back again last year.

'Human-driven climate change is now an empirically-verifiable fact', he said.

'Those who dispute that link are not sceptics, but anti-science deniers'.

Last year, global average temperatures were about 1.1 degree Celsius (1.98 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial period, and about 0.06 degrees Celsius above the previous record set in 2015, the WMO said.

Globally, average sea surface temperatures were also the highest on record last year; sea levels continued to rise; and Arctic sea ice levels were far below average, according to the report.

It warned that greenhouse gas emissions were the main driver behind the warming trend.

Earth this year experienced its second-hottest February ever recorded. Pictured is a map of temperature anomalies during February 2017, where dark crimson indicates areas of extreme warming and blue shows a drop in temperature

RISING GLOBAL TEMPERATURES Year Temperature increase (°C relative to average temperature 1961-1990) 2016 0.77 2015 0.76 2014 0.58 2013 0.51 2012 0.47 2011 0.42 2010 0.56 2009 0.51 2008 0.39 2007 0.49 2006 0.51 2005 0.54 2004 0.45 2003 0.51 2002 0.5 2001 0.44 2000 0.29

'With levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently breaking new records, the influence of human activities on the climate system has become more and more evident,' WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in the statement.

'The problem is ours to fix and we must do so right now. The longer we wait for effective action the harder and more costly it will be', said Prof. Martin Siegert, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London.

The UN agency said that increasingly powerful computers and the availability of long-term climate data had made it possible to 'demonstrate clearly the existence of links between man-made climate change and many cases of high-impact extreme events, in particular heatwaves.'

The WMO noted that at least three times so far this winter the Arctic has had the Polar equivalent of a heatwave with powerful Atlantic storms driving an influx of warm, moist air.

'This meant that at the height of the Arctic winter and the sea ice refreezing period, there were days which were actually close to the melting point,' the statement said, adding that Antarctic sea ice had also been at 'a record low'.

The agency pointed to research showing that changes in the Arctic and melting sea ice were leading to a shift in wider oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns.

Scientists believe WMO's ground-breaking annual report leaves 'no doubt' that there is a link between global warming and fossil fuel emissions (stock image)

This in turn is affecting weather elsewhere in the world, since it impacts the waves in the jet stream - a fast-moving band of air that helps regulate temperature.

This has led some areas, like the United States and Canada, to experience unusually balmy temperatures, while others, including the Arabian peninsula and North Africa, have experienced an unusually cold first few months this year.

The WMO also pointed to newly released studies indicating that ocean heat content may have increased even more than reported.

'Provisional data also indicates that there has been no easing in the rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations,' it said.