The January figures are in, and Earth's string of hottest-months-on-record has now reached nine in a row.

But Nasa says January stood out: The temperature was above normal by the highest margin of any month on record.

And January set another record. Arctic sea ice reached its lowest point for that ice-building winter month.

The January figures are in, and Earth's string of hottest-months-on-record has now reached nine in a row. Shown here, the pattern of temperature anomalies around the world in January shows particular warmth in the high northern latitudes, across Canada, Greenland and Siberia

Nasa said January 2016 was 2.03°F (1.13°C) above normal.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which calculates temperatures differently, said last month was 1.87°F (1.04°C), which is the second biggest margin in history.

NOAA said the greatest was this past December.