Record highs for heat, greenhouse gas, sea level in 2015

Heat, greenhouse gases and sea levels all climbed to record highs last year, as the trend toward a warming planet was boosted by an unusually strong El Nino weather pattern, international scientists said Tuesday.

"Most indicators of climate change continued to reflect trends consistent with a warming planet," said the State of the Climate report, a peer-reviewed report issued each year by hundreds of global scientists.

"Several markers such as land and ocean temperatures, sea levels and greenhouse gases broke records set just one year prior."

A particularly strong El Nino ocean warming trend also helped to "amplify" the impact of some global warming trends in 2015, it said. 

"Owing to the combination of El Nino and a long term upward trend, Earth observed record warmth for the second consecutive year," it said.