[15] Along the Antarctic Peninsula, temperatures as high as 15 °C (59 °F) have been recorded,[clarification needed] though the summer temperature is below 0 °C (32 °F) most of the time. Weather in Antarctica. Wildland Adventures: Antarctica Seasons and Climate, Wanderlust Travel Magazine: What to Pack for an Antarctica Cruise, Australian Government, Australian Antarctic Division: Antarctic Weather, Aurora Expeditions: Antarctica Expeditions, Australian Government, Australian Antarctic Division: Antarctic Geography, Lonely Planet: Antarctica Travel Information. Antarctica is one of two of the earth's only continents lying entirely in the Southern Hemisphere, the other continent being Australia. [26] Warm ocean currents may have been the cause of the melting. Average temperatures in summer are above freezing over all regions except the central Arctic Basin, where sea ice survives through ... (October 2010 – September 2011) were up to 3 degrees Celsius above (red) or below (blue) the long-term average (1981–2010). Ice makes up 98 percent of Antarctica's surface, and in some areas, the ice is more than 2 miles thick. [8] This unnamed part of the Antarctic plateau, between Dome A and Dome F, was measured on 10 August 2010, and the temperature was deduced from radiance measured by the Landsat 8 and other satellites. 0 Comment. A pamphlet about the weather and climate of Antarctica, Antarctica's central ice cap grows while glaciers melt, "AWS and AMRC Real-Time Weather Observations and Data", NASA experts explain ice melt in Antarctica (2014), "Sea Ice Index – Trends in extent – Southern Hemisphere (Antarctic)", "Coastal-Change and Glaciological Maps of Antarctica", "Coastal-change and glaciological map of the Eights Coast area, Antarctica; 1972–2001", "Coastal-change and glaciological map of the Bakutis Coast area, Antarctica; 1972–2002", "Coastal-change and glaciological map of the Saunders Coast area, Antarctica; 1972–1997", "Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World – Antarctica", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Climate_of_Antarctica&oldid=991292379, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2014, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from February 2020, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from December 2019, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Wikipedia states, "The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 14.5 °C (58.2 °F) in two places, Hope Bay and Vanda Station, on 5 January 1974." According to an ongoing temperature analysis conducted by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by a little more than 1° Celsius (2° Fahrenheit) since 1880. [27] Not only are the ice sheets losing mass, they are losing mass at an accelerating rate. There are also 24 hours of daylight. Along the Antarctic Peninsula, temperatures as high as 15 °C (59 °F) have been recorded, though the summer temperature is below 0 °C (32 °F) most of the time. The average annual temperature ranges from about -10 Celsius on the Antarctic coast to -60 Celsius at the highest points of the interior. Similarly, Saturn is a rather cold gas giant planet, with an average temperature of -178 °Celsius. [21] Vanderlei Almeida / AFP - Getty Images file Feb. 7, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC Most tour companies take visitors to the Antarctic Peninsula, which has the most moderate climate. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15-0.20°C per decade. Average temperatures in the Antarctic interior get down to -70 degrees Celsius during the winter months and -35 degrees Celsius in the warmer months. At the coast, temperatures can drop below -40 degrees, and inland it can drop as low as -112 degrees. Severe low temperatures vary with latitude, elevation, and distance from the ocean. Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent, and, after being compressed, becomes the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet. Antarctica is the highest continent on Earth, three times higher than any other. Normally, this value is -16.6 degrees Celsius. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 93 weather stations in the Antarctica below 1370 metres altitude, was recorded in 1952 with an average temperature of -8.2 °C. But before you plan a trip there, it's wise to get familiar with the average temperatures of this desolate yet fascinating place. Cold season / winter is in the months January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. The average winter temperature in the Antarctic is minus 60 degrees Celsius. Hana has been writing about her travel experiences for several years and has been published in print magazines like Travel Ideas and Ensemble Vacations, as well as websites such as Tour Amigo, The Culture Trip, REI, and Orbitz. This reading follows another temperature record — on 6 February, an Argentinian research station at Esperanza had measured 18.3 degrees Celsius, which was the highest reading on mainland Antarctica.. Another Argentinian base located on Seymour Island, called Marambio, which is 100 km from Esperanza, had also recorded a high for February at 14.1 degrees Celsius the same day (6 February). During this time, temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit on the peninsula. In March, climate scientists recorded the first heat wave at a research base in East Antarctica and in February, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica - … Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Higher temperatures are expected to lead to more precipitation, which takes the form of snow. [29][30][31], Research published in 2009 found that overall the continent had become warmer since the 1950s, a finding consistent with the influence of man-made climate change. Pack warm base layers like long johns and fleece shirts, as well as gloves, a hat, a scarf and warm, waterproof boots. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Satellite measurements have identified even lower ground temperatures, with −93.2 °C (−135.8 °F) having been observed at the cloud-free East Antarctic Plateau on 10 August 2010.[6]. ¹The total ice volume is different from the sum of the component parts because individual figures have been rounded. If all the land-ice covering Antarctica were to melt — around 30 million cubic kilometres (7.2 million cubic miles) of ice — the seas would rise by over 60 metres (200 feet). [12][13] Additionally, the largest glacier on earth is in Antarctica, known as the Lambert Glacier. Melting or breakup of floating shelf ice does not directly affect global sea levels; however, ice shelves have a buttressing effect on the ice flow behind them. Compared to the global average between 1901 to 2000, the global average was at it's lowest point, (0.71 degrees below average) in 1884, whereas … The snow reflects the sun's solar radiation, and this combined with the altitude (an average of 14,000 feet above sea level) makes the interior of Antarctica the coldest place on Earth. The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth. Spring runs from early November to December, and while the ice is still heavily packed, the temperatures start to rise. The average temperature of Antarctica is about -49 degrees Celsius or about -56.2 Fahrenheit. The lowest recorded temperature was -128.6 degrees fahrenheit. IPCC 2007, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, "Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record", "New record for Antarctic continent reported", "Antarctica logs hottest temperature on record of 18.3C", "WMO verifies highest temperatures for Antarctic Region", "World: Lowest Temperature - ASU World Meteorological Organization", Coldest spot on Earth identified by satellite, "Landsat 8 helps unveil the coldest place on Earth", "New study explains Antarctica's coldest temperatures", "Coldest spot on Earth identified by satellite", "BBC Corrections and Clarifications page", "Antarctica Climate data and graphs, South Pole, McMurdo and Vostok", "Preliminary Report: Record Temperatures at South Pole (and nearby AWS sites…)", "Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis", "NASA Study Shows Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act", "Millennial-scale variability of George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula", "Holocene Instability of the George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula", "Press Release – New Year's Honours for British Antarctic Survey Personnel", "Global warming hitting all of Antarctica: scientists", "Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year", "Antarctica study challenges warming skeptics", "NASA - NASA Researchers Find Snowmelt in Antarctica Creeping Inland", Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Known changes in coastline ice around the Antarctic Peninsula: The George VI Ice Shelf, which may be on the brink of instability,[25] has probably existed for approximately 8,000 years, after melting 1,500 years earlier. A weather research station on Seymour Island in the Antarctic Peninsula registered a temperature of 69.3 degrees (20.75 Celsius) on Feb. 9, according … The coast is warmer; on the coast Antarctic average temperatures are around −10 °C (14.0 °F) (in the warmest parts of Antarctica) and in the elevated inland they average about −55 °C (−67.0 °F) in Vostok. The map shows the 10-year average (2000–2009) global mean temperature anomaly relative to the 1951–1980 mean. It was discovered during a National Snow and Ice Data Center review of stored data in December 2013[9] but revised by researchers on 25 June 2018. There are some ice-free areas, such as Bunger Hills and the Vestfold Hills. The temperature was nearly 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 Celsius) at Argentina's Esperanza research station, scientists from the country's meteorological agency said. The mean annual temperature of the interior is −57 °C (−70.6 °F). She has spent the last five years traveling the world and living abroad and has lived in South Korea and Israel. The spot, which is located in the heart of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth. Climate data and weather averages in South Pole. [16] Note that the quoted precipitation is a measure of its equivalence to water, rather than being the actual depth of snow. A stronger polar vortex might explain the cooling trend in the interior of Antarctica. Antarctica has hit a record temperature of over 20 degrees Celsius for the first time, just a few days after it had already broken the highest record. Almost all Antarctic precipitation falls as snow. The altitude of the location is 3,488 meters (11,444 feet). The annual average temperature is -50°C (-58°F). The vortex acts like an atmospheric barrier, preventing warmer, coastal air from moving into the continent's interior. Raising Earth's average surface temperature another degree Celsius will lock in 2.5 metres of sea level rise from Antarctica alone and an extra three degrees see the frozen continent lift oceans 6.5 metres, scientists warned Wednesday. The weather in Antarctica can be highly variable, and the weather conditions can often change dramatically in short periods of time. Scientists in Antarctica have recorded a new record temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius, breaking the barrier of 20 degrees for the first time on the continent, a researcher said Thursday. [20] This is, however, very unlikely within the next few centuries. A weather research station on Seymour Island in the Antarctic Peninsula registered a temperature of 69.3 degrees (20.75 Celsius) on Feb. 9, according … 2015: A study concluded that the remaining, West Antarctic ice loss could contribute to 1.4 metres (4 feet 7 inches) sea level rise, Antarctica predicted to warm by around 3 °C (5.4 °F) over this century, 10% increase in sea ice around the Antarctic, Warming of the Southern Ocean will cause changes in Antarctic ecosystem, This page was last edited on 29 November 2020, at 08:51. Most of the icy southern continent, where temperatures can plummet to minus 80 degrees Celsius (-112 degrees Fahrenheit), seemed to be holding steady or even cooling as the rest of the planet warmed. Civilization in Antarctica, considering most of the interior 2000–2009 ) global mean temperature in the South Pole the! Her experiences, she has spent the last five years traveling the world ’ s average temperature will be! 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