The British Antarctic Survey found that even in Antarctica, the world's coldest continent, a very long heatwave has been observed this winter in the southern hemisphere.
The average temperature on the continent in July was 3.1 degrees Celsius higher than at the same time of year, Thomas Caton Harrison, a staff member at the institute, told AFP. Since records began in 1979, this is the second warmest July on Antarctica, after 1981.
The average daily temperature ranged from minus 34.68 to minus 28.12 degrees Celsius between July 15 and 31, according to data from the University of Maine. Based on the latest available data, the average temperature on Aug. 7 was minus 26.6 degrees Celsius.
In the northern part of Antarctica, between part of the Weddell Sea and Queen Maud Land, the anomalous temperature reached 10 degrees Celsius in July. But Caton Harrison believes that what is unusual is not this, but the length of the heatwave.
According to a study published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience last June, researchers believe we may have reached another milestone: Antarctic ice sheets are melting at an unpredictable rate due to warming ocean temperatures.
In addition to the warming of the oceans, the water level in them is also rising, which is due to the fact that the melting of ice in Antarctica is now faster than the formation of ice, and this rise in level threatens the inhabitants of coastal areas around the world.
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