The United Nations has stated that a new all-time high temperature has been recorded in Antarctica. The recording was made last year and states that an area on the continent reached 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit). The finding has further increased worries regarding global warming and climate change.
The measurement was taken at Argentina's Esperanza research station. Another temperature recording of 20.75 °C (69.4 °F) on the Antarctic continent was rejected as being unconfirmable.
The UN's World Meteorological Organisation said of the findings:
"Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build up a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth's final frontiers. The Antarctic Peninsula is among the fastest-warming regions of the planet - almost 3 °C over the last 50 years. This new temperature record is therefore consistent with the climate change we are observing."
It is thought that the record temperature was the result of a high-pressure weather system that created strong downslope winds, a phenomenon known to produce high temperatures. Antarctica holds the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth. In 1983, the Vostok station recorded a temperature of minus 89.2 °C (minus 128.6 °F). The average high temperature in Antarctica is around -10 degrees Celsius.
World Meteorological Organisation secretary-general Petteri Taalas said the recent temperature peak is worrying because losing Antarctic ice can cause less heat to be absorbed from the atmosphere, making climate change worse. He said:
"Even more so than the Arctic, the Antarctic is poorly covered in terms of continuous and sustained weather and climate observations and forecasts, even though both play an important role in driving climate and ocean patterns and in sea level rise."
WMO first vice president Celeste Saulo added:
"This new record shows once again that climate change requires urgent measures. It is essential to continue strengthening the observing, forecasting and early warning systems to respond to the extreme events that take place more and more often due to global warming."
In the last year, record temperatures have also been recorded in Siberia, Russia and, at present, wildfires are raging in Canada and the United States as a result of an unprecedented heatwave.
[h/t: science alert]
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