Experts
have measured what is expected the highest temperature ever on
Antarctica: 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit (17.5 Celsius). They have made
measurements at Argentina's Esperanza Base, on the northern tip of the
Antarctic Peninsula, according to the meteorological website Weather
Underground. The preceding hottest recognized temperature on the
Antarctica was 62.8°F (17.1°C), recorded at Esperanza Base on April 24,
1961. The Weather Underground called last week's temperatures a
remarkable heat wave, though they happened during the end of the austral
summer, when Antarctic temperatures are naturally highest. The
temperature has yet to be certified as an official record for the
continent by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization). Therefore it
is hard to draw much conclusion from a single temperature record,
cautions Gavin Schmidt, a climate researcher with NASA's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies in New York City. Last year Antarctica also
logged a record cold temperature.
What
are more imperative are the long-term trends, says Schmidt. And when it
comes to Antarctica, he points out, the past few years "have actually
been quite complex. The world's ocean has been warming rapidly,
absorbing much of the planet's excess heat. The large glaciers around
Antarctica that come in contact with the warming water have been melting
rapidly. But some other glaciers farther inland on the continent are
actually growing. That has not been reasonably explained. The science is
mostly intricate because the ozone hole continues to affect the
region's climate in ways that aren't well understood. The global
circulation of winds and currents remains a test for researchers to
grasp. One record warm temperature doesn't cut through all that
intricacy. When it comes to the entire planet, the Earth remains on
track to warm by an average of at least two degrees C (3.6 degrees F) by
the end of the century, experts report, though exactly how much is
expected to depend on countries' abilities to lessen emissions of
heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
