Heatwave Causes 10C Above Average Temperature In Antarctica

Antarctica experienced a near-record heatwave, with ground temperatures reaching an average of 10 degrees Celsius above normal. This is a rare occurrence in one of the world’s coldest places. 

The world has experienced 12 months of record warmth, consistently exceeding pre industrial levels. While polar land masses remain below zero, southern hemisphere winter temperatures have reached 28 degrees Celsius above expectations on some days.

Warming in Antarctica, can cause the ice sheets to collapse

Director of forecasting at MetDesk Michael Dukes stated that although daily high temperatures were unexpected, the average increase over the course of the month was much more noteworthy.

Climate scientists predict polar regions will experience the most significant effects of anthropogenic climate change, as highlighted by Dukes.

“Usually you can’t just look at one month for a climate trend but it is right in line with what models predict, In Antarctica generally that kind of warming in the winter and continuing into summer months can lead to collapsing of the ice sheets.” He further stated.

For the first time in fourteen months, temperature records were not broken in July of this year.

Research scientist Zeke Hausfather at Berkeley Earth has attributed the recent spike in global temperatures to Antarctica’s heatwave. He stated that Antarctica has warmed along with the world over the past 50 and 150 years, and the majority of the recent spike was driven by the heatwave, as the region has warmed alongside the world.

In the past two years, heatwave has hit twice in the region

In the past two years, the region has experienced two heatwaves, the last in March 2022, causing ice sheet collapse. El Nino, has also contributed to increased temperatures in Antarctica. 

This climate phenomenon, combined with global warming, has led to climate breakdown, according to Dukes.

Some believe Antarctica’s heatwave is caused by a weeks-long “southern stratospheric warming event,” which are rare in the region, according to Jonathan Wille, a climate science researcher at ETH Zürich. The impact on surface conditions remains unclear.

Even while heatwaves “seem to be more and more frequent over the continent,” Dukes noted that it was unclear how much of an impact the climate issue had on this specific occurrence.

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