According to the new estimates, the hottest year since 1880 is 1934 instead of 1998, which is now second. 1921 is now third, followed by 2006, 1931, and 1999. 

The error was brought to NASA's attention by Steve McIntyre, a Canadian blogger for Climate Audit. 

The change has little effect on global temperature records and the average temperatures for 2002-2006 (at 0.66 ºC) is still warmer than 1930-1934 (0.63 ºC) in the United States. NASA said there is still evidence that temperatures are trending upward.
NASA said the error resulted from a switch to a new data-collection system in 2000 and a false assumption that the old and new methods matched. 

McIntyre criticized NASA for not making a formal announcement on the change. 

"They have managed it rather poorly," The Guardian quoted McIntyre as saying. "I come from a background where you have to announce bad results. They might not like the fact they made a small embarrassing error but if it was me I'd have announced the results and put the best spin on it that I could. I would not have left myself open to the suggestion that I was not being forthcoming." 

NASA said that accusations from climate skeptics of a cover up are unfounded, according to CanWest News Service. 

"This is not a hundredths of a degree issue. This isn't some kind of statistical quirk. It's very, very clear [that global warming is happening]," Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told CanWest News Service in a phone interview. "A lot of this is because people are making that confusion, and some people are deliberately making that confusion to make [the correction] seem like a bigger deal than it actually is." 

The revision comes roughly a year after NASA announced delays in the next generation of satellites needed to monitor Earth's changing climate and environment. 

Mean global temperature data still show the 2005 is the warmest year on record. Further, the 5-year mean temperatures in the U.S. continue to show a warming trend. 

Issue for India
Keeping in mind one of the major environmentalists concern - lack of public awareness on Global warming, let us evaluate its impact. Also where will the recent Bali Conference on climate change leads us. 

There were intense debates at Bali and 190 countries chalked out the Bali roadmap. But the toughest battle was for developing countries like India and China. Today global warming is no longer just an alarmist concept particularly for India.

The ripples of the climate conference in Bali spread to Mumbai. A day after the conference ended thousands of Mumbaikars unplugged their electrical devices for one hour to save energy.

Dr Saugata Hazra, Director of School of Oceanography, Kolkata said, ''This region is the largest global carbon sink, by coming together and planting these trees we are attempting to give back some forest cover. Also the strong trees act as a barrier against cyclones which are getting more frequent and will also prevent soil from eroding rapidly.''

Efforts can start with small initiatives, Greenpeace has been pleading to ban the bulb and replace it with more energy efficient CFL. This will save India 1200 MW of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4 per cent. 

Tom Alter, an actor and activist said, ''If even ten to twenty per cent of us switch to CFLs just imagine how much power we can save. Given that we're seeing climate change, we need to do what we can and this doesn't cost us much.''

India negotiated head on at Bali to be heard by developed nations. But more important than reports and big numbers are people's initiatives for conservation begins at home.
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