LONDON: Global warming caused the northern tip of Antarctica to nearly reach room temperature last week, with a record-breaking high of 63.5 F (17.5 C) being recorded at Argentina’s Esperanza Base.
The weather there was warmer than in the UK, where British Summer Time has just begun.
Antarctica has been steadily heating up due to global warming in recent years, rising about 5 F (2.8 C) in the last half century, according to the British Antarctic Survey.
Tuesday’s record built on the one set the day before, when 63.3 F (17.4 C) was measured at another Argentinian base on a small islet just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Before this, the record of 62.8 F (17.1 C) dates back to 24 April, 1961.
The new high is yet to be made official however, as the World Meteorological Organization well have to decide whether the northern tip where the temperature was recorded can be considered part of the continent.
Last Thursday, a new study revealed that the Antarctic is losing 310km3 of ice from shelves floating at its limits every year, potentially causing big rises in sea levels.
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