Unusual heat wave hits Antarctica

by time news

DECRYPTION – Historically high temperatures, more than 30°C above average, have been recorded.

In the coldest region in the world, Antarctica, unprecedented temperatures were recorded at the end of last week. They reached values ​​of more than 30°C above the averages measured in March. At the Franco-Italian Concordia station, at an altitude of 3200 meters in the heart of the southern continent, the thermometer indicated an unprecedented “heat” at -11.5°C, “an absolute record, all months combined”, noted Étienne Kapikian, forecaster at Météo-France. It is generally -50°C at this time of year.

600 km away, at the Russian station of Vostok, where the temperature has been recorded for almost 50 years, it was abnormally hot, -17.7°C on March 18. “A temperature well above the record of -30°C, which is measured between October and March”adds Gaétan Heymes, meteorologist at Météo-France and Antarctic specialist.

An increased greenhouse effect

The latter explains that this recent heat stroke, which has been fading since the end of last week, is “related to a meteorological phenomenon called…

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