As the region approaches autumn, Antarctica’s weather stations broke records on Friday. According to Maximiliano Herrera’s tweet, Concordia station, which is two miles high, was at 10 degrees (-12.2 Celsius), which is approximately 70 degrees warmer than the average. Vostok station, which is even higher, reached a shade above zero degrees (-17.7 Celsius), breaking its all-time record of 27 degrees (15 Celsius).
Terra Nova Base, a coastal base was well above freezing at 44.6° (7 degrees Celsius).
The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder (Colorado) was taken aback by the unusual sight. They were looking at the Arctic, where it was 50 degrees higher than the average and the North Pole, which were both nearing or at their melting point. This is really unusual for mid March, according to Walt Meier, center ice scientist.
They are opposite seasons. Meier explained to The Associated Press Friday evening that you don’t see the poles melting simultaneously. It’s an unusual event.
Meier said, “It’s pretty amazing.”
“Wow. “Wow.
Matthew Lazzara, University of Wisconsin meteorologist, said that it was not a good sign to see such things happen.
Lazzara tracks temperatures at East Antarctica’s Dome C-ii. He recorded 14 degrees (-10 Celsius) Friday. The normal temperature is -45 degrees. (-43 Celsius). “That’s a temperature you should see in January, and not March. It’s summer there. That’s dramatic.”
Lazzara and Meier both said that the events in Antarctica are likely to be a random weather phenomenon and not part of global warming.
The Washington Post first reported the Antarctic warm spell.
According to Friday’s Antarctic continent, it was 8.6 degrees (4.8 Celsius) warmer than a baseline temperature of 1979-2000, according the University of Maine Climate Reanalyzer. This is based on U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration weather model data. Meier stated that 8 degrees of heating is not normal for an average temperature already warm up.
The Arctic overall was also 6 degrees (3.3°) warmer on Friday than the average of 1979 to 2000.
The average global temperature was only 1.1 degrees (0.6 Celsius) higher than the average from 1979 to 2000. Globally, the average 1979-2000 temperature is only.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century.
Meier stated that Antarctic warming is unusual because the southern continent, except for its fragile peninsula, has not been warming as much, particularly when compared to other parts of the globe.
Antarctica did set a record in terms of summer sea ice, with records dating back to 1979. It shrank to 741,000 sq miles (1.9 million km2) in February, according to the snow and ice center.
Meier stated that it was likely that there was an “atmospheric river” which pumped warm and moist air southward from the Pacific.
The Arctic has seen warming two to three times faster that the rest of the world and is therefore considered to be vulnerable to climate change. Meanwhile, the warm Atlantic air was moving north from Greenland.
