It’s T-shirt weather in Antarctica as temperature breaks record
- The temperature at one research base in Antarctica reached a record-breaking 18.3 degrees Celsius (65 Fahrenheit)
- Antarctica is among the fastest-warming regions in the planet, according to the World Meteorological Organisation
The temperature at one research base in Antarctica reached a record-breaking 18.3 degrees Celsius (65 Fahrenheit) on Thursday, almost a full degree above the previous high set five years ago.
Argentine scientists on the Esperanza base who confirmed the reading said that wasn’t the only record broken this week.
The nation’s Marambio site registered the highest temperature for the month of February since 1971. Thermometers there hit 14.1 Celsius (57.4F), above the previous February 2013 reading of 13.8 Celsius (56.8F).
The reports are shocking, but not surprising, said Frida Bengtsson, who is leading a expedition to the Antarctic for the environmental group Greenpeace.
“We’ve been in the Antarctic for the last month, documenting the dramatic changes this part of the world is undergoing as our planet warms,” she said in an email. “In the last month, we’ve seen penguin colonies sharply declining under the impacts of climate change in this supposedly pristine environment.”