Officials working at an Argentine research base on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula on Thursday recorded the highest-ever temperature seen on the continent.
Argentina's national meteorological service said in a tweet Thursday that officials had recorded a temperature of 64.94 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest temperature seen on the continent since record-keeping began in 1961. Previously, the highest temperature had been recorded at 53.3 degrees Fahrenheit in March 2015.
#Antártida | Nuevo récord de temperaturas 🌡️
— SMN Argentina (@SMN_Argentina) February 6, 2020
Este mediodía la Base #Esperanza registró un nuevo récord histórico (desde 1961) de temperatura, con 18,3°C. Con este valor se supera el récord anterior de 17,5°C del 24 en marzo de 2015. Y no fue el único récord... pic.twitter.com/rhKsPFytCb
The United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization said one of the group’s committees has been tasked with verifying the high temperature. The group noted that the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest-warming regions of the planet, with temperatures rising nearly 37 degrees in the last 50 years.
“Everything we have seen thus far indicates a likely legitimate record,” Randall Cerveny, WMO’s weather and climate extremes rapporteur, said Friday in a news release.
If confirmed, the temperature recorded Thursday would be the highest ever for the Antarctic Peninsula. It would fall short of becoming the highest temperature seen in the region, which is defined as anywhere south of 60 degrees latitude. That record was set in January 1982, when a temperature of 67.64 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded on Signy Island.
James Renwick, a climate scientist at Victoria University of Wellington who previously served on a committee that verified previous records in the region, told Guardian Australia that Thursday's high temperature was particularly impressive because the last record was set only five years earlier and the temperature rise was so high.
"It's a sign of the warming that has been happening there that's much faster than the global average," Renwick told Guardian Australia. "To have a new record set that quickly is surprising, but who knows how long it will last? Possibly not that long at all."
Eric Steig, a glaciologist who studies climate change at the University of Washington, told The Washington Post the record wasn't particularly surprising.
"Although there is decade-to-decade variability, the underlying trend across most of the continent is warming," he said.
According to WMO, about 87% of glaciers along the west coast of the Antarctic have retreated in the last 40 years. In the last 12 years, officials have noted an acceleration in the rate of retreat.
