One of the coldest places in the world is warming up fast.
Scientists from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced a new record high temperature of 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit for the continent of Antarctica. The temperature was initially recorded on March 24, 2015 at the Argentine research base Esperanza, nestled on the northernmost tip of the Antarctic Peninsula just underneath South America. The new high swaps places with the previous record of 59 degrees, recorded at the now closed New Zealander Vanda Station January 5th, 1974.
The finding is part of a concerted push by the WMO to increase our ability to forecast weather patterns at the poles and better understand naturally occurring climate variability and human-induced climate change. Given that the entire globe is setting record high temperatures with every passing year, this is increasingly important.
"The Antarctic and the Arctic are poorly covered in terms of weather observations and forecasts, even though both play an important role in driving climate and ocean patterns and in sea level rise," said WMO polar expert Michael Sparrow, in a public statement.
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