Ground temperatures across large swathes of the Antarctic ice sheets have risen an average of 10 degrees above normal over the past month amid a near-historic heat wave.
Global warming hits Antarctica hard PHOTO Shutterstock
Although temperatures remain below zero on the surface of the polar earth, which is shrouded in darkness at this time of year, in the southern hemisphere temperatures reached 28 degrees above expectations on some days, according to The Guardian.
The planet has experienced 12 months of record heat, with temperatures consistently exceeding the 1.5 degree rise from pre-industrial levels that was considered the limit for avoiding the worst effects of climate change.
Michael Dukes, director of forecasting at MetDesk, said that while the daily maximum temperatures were surprising, far more significant was the average increase over the course of the month.
Scientists have long predicted that the greatest effects of climate change will be seen in the polar regions.
“Usually you can’t analyze a climate trend based on just one month, but it’s in line with what the models are predicting (…) In Antarctica, generally, such a heat wave in the winter, which then continues into the months of summer, may lead to the collapse of the ice sheets”Dukes said.
Last month was the first in the past 14 months in which no new temperature records were broken, but the heat wave recorded the year before, in 2023, had already increased temperatures by 0.3 degrees above average.
Zeke Hausfather, a researcher at Berkeley Earth, said the Antarctic heat wave was “one of the biggest factors in the increase in global temperatures in recent weeks”.
This is the second heat wave to hit the region in the past two years, with 39 degrees recorded in March 2022, causing a portion of the ice sheet the size of Rome to collapse.
