Antarctica logged record temperature of 18.3 degrees Celsius, says UN agency report

File Photo (Reuters)

New Delhi: Antarctica logged a record high temperature of up to 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the month of February last year,  the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (UN WMO) report said. The UN agency attributed the high temperature to large high-pressure system which created "fohn conditions”, downslope winds producing significant surface warming, which led to local warming both at the Esperanza station and at Seymour Island, a press release said. 

"The Antarctic Peninsula is among the fastest-warming regions of the planet, almost 3°C over the last 50 years. This new temperature record is therefore consistent with the climate change we are observing. WMO is working in partnership with the Antarctic Treaty System to help conserve this pristine continent," WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas was quoted as saying by ANI. 

This new record high of 18.3 degrees Celsius on the Antarctic continent was recorded on February 6, 2020 at the Esperanza Research Station (Argentina), the press release said. Earlier, the record temperature was logged on March 24, 2015 for the Antarctic continent at 17.5 degrees Celsius (63.5 degrees Fahrenheit). 

The report was established after an extensive review conducted by the WMO's Weather and Climate Extremes Archive on the weather situation in the Antarctica peninsula. The WMO has also denied previous reports suggesting that the Antarctic region crossed 20.7 degrees Celsius (69.3 degrees Fahrenheit) on February 9, 2020, at Seymour Island. 

(With agency inputs)