It ’s not quite a cold-blooded day in Hell , but it seems we ’d better get used to the idea of live times in Antarctica afterEsperanza Baseset continental records two days in a row .
It ’s truthful that the 17.5 ° C ( 63.5 ° F ) on Tuesday , March 24 — follow 17.4 ° C ( 63.4 ° fluorine ) at Base Marambio the Clarence Day before — would come as a welcome relief for dweller of tropic regions . However , both chassis are higher than Antarctica ’s premature recorded maximum of 17 ° C , ( 62.6 ° degree Fahrenheit ) . While records will always fall eventually , the latest meter reading is particularly noteworthy for go on after the continent ’s fall equinoctial point , a time of year when temperatures are normallywell past the annual peak .
The majority of Antarctica has not know the same thawing that the rest of the planet has had over the last five decennium , a import of ozone depletion andocean current around the continent . TheAntarctic Peninsula , already the fond part of the continent , is the exclusion . medium temperature there have warmed almostfour multiplication as tight as the major planet as a whole since 1900 , at rates completely out of keeping with previous change register in the realm ’s snow .
The consequences have been written in thenear total collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelfand thedevastation of local ecosystem . Despite this increase in average , the track record — set in 1976 — survived until last week .
Credit : U.S. Geological Service . Esperanza Base sits in Graham Land , Union of the Antarctic Circle .
Weather Undergroundnotes that in high spirits temperatures have not been curb to Antarctica , with three other countries and a French overseas territorial dominion tying or breaking records already in 2015 . Cold as it has been in parts of North America , no national low-spirited temperature record has been set anywhere this year .
Thehigh pressure ridgethat created the condition for the warm temperatures trapped a snub - off first gear over Chile , bringing14 prison term the annual average rainfallto the Atacama Desertin a unmarried day .
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