Climate Change News: Antarctica Hits Record High Temperature, Alarming Experts

Scientists on the frozen continent have reported a potential all-time-high temperature in Antarctica. The Argentinian Esperanza research station on Thursday reported a temperature of around 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Esperanza station is situated at the northernmost tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. According to CNN, this was the same temperature as was measured in San Diego on Thursday afternoon.

“That would make it the hottest temperature that we have seen over the length of record that we have for Antarctica,” said Randall Cerveny, rapporteur of weather and climate extremes for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The process for the WMO validating the station’s findings will take as long as nine months and require the input from a panel of international experts. While not indicative of the average conditions across the entire continent, the data nonetheless fits a trend that has many scientists worried.

“This is unfortunately a continuing trend,” Cerveny said. “This station just set the existing record only just a few years ago in 2015. So we are seeing these high temperature records — not only in Antarctica, but across the entire world — fall, whereas we just don't see cold temperature records anymore.”

Temperatures all over the globe have been on the rise in recent years, due in large part to climate change. On average, 2019 was the second-hottest year on record, while the 2010s were, overall, the hottest decade ever recorded.

The Antarctic Peninsula is considered by many to be one of the “fastest warming areas on the planet.”

“I've been going down for 10 years, and even I have seen the changes," Alexandra Isern, head of Antarctic science with the National Science Foundation, said about the region. “I bring different clothes.”