A recent analysis of the mean surface air temperature at 14 stations in Sri Lanka over the period 1961-90 carried out by T K Fernando and L Chandrapala of the country's Department of Meteorology has indicated an increase in the surface air temperature at the rate of 0.036C annually at Anuradhapura. At other stations, this rate varies, the lowest being 0.010C per year at Hambantoa. The global rise in the mean surface temperature over the last century has been 0.005C per year.