Antarctica, the world’s coldest continent, is experiencing an exceptionally long warm spell during its winter, according to Britain’s National Institute for Polar Research.
British Antarctic Survey polar climate scientist Thomas Caton Harrison told AFP this week that temperature anomalies are not uncommon on the continent known as “the ice”, but “it is unusual for a warm period to persist for so long.”
Provisional data show that the average near-surface temperature in Antarctica in July 2024 was 3.1 degrees Celsius above normal for that month.
Accounting for land and land ice, this is the second warmest July in Antarctica since records began in 1979 – the warmest July was in 1981.
According to data posted online by the University of Maine, the average daily temperature ranged from -34.68C on July 15 to -28.12C on July 31.
The average temperature on the continent on August 7, the latest available date, was -26.6C.
In July, the average temperature anomaly reached 9–10 °C over limited parts of Dronning Maud Land and the coastal region of the eastern Weddell Sea.
Katon Harrison said daily temperature variations are common during the Antarctic winter, but “what is remarkable is the prolonged high temperatures.”
“Preliminary data suggest that winters in Antarctica may be exceptionally warm,” he said.
The “Ice” is the coldest, windiest and least populated continent on Earth, but it is also affected by global warming.
The continent is at great risk from extreme heat, especially as more ice melts.
Scientists have discovered a new twist in the “uncontrollable melting” of Antarctic ice sheets, caused by the intrusion of warm sea water between the ice and the land it rests on, according to a study published in June in the journal Nature Geoscience.
As ocean temperatures rise, caused by human-caused global warming, Antarctica’s ice sheets are melting, threatening to raise global sea levels and posing a threat to coastal communities.
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