Beijing, 20 Mar (Xinhua) -- A number of meteorologists have recently observed extremely high temperatures in both the northern and southern polar regions, and the temperature in some areas exceeds the average of 30 to 40 degrees Celsius in the same period in previous years.
Under normal circumstances, the temperature in Antarctica will gradually drop as the southern hemisphere turns from summer to autumn. But several research stations in Antarctica recorded record high temperatures on the 18th of this month. According to Agence France-Presse, Etienne Kapician, a meteorologist at the French Meteorological Agency, said on social media that the Concordia Antarctic Research Station, jointly built by France and Italy, measured temperatures of minus 11.5 degrees Celsius on the 18th, a record high. This figure is about 40 degrees Celsius higher than the average for the same period in previous years.
This is an iceberg at sea photographed in the Weddell Sea on the edge of the Antarctic continent on February 1, 2020. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Shiping)
Jonathan Weller, a polar meteorologist at the University of the Alpes in Grenoble, France, said on social media that the temperature measured at the Concordia expedition was 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record high, and that "it should not have occurred."
Matthew Lazara, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin in the United States, observed temperatures in the C-II region of the Southeast Antarctic Ice Dome reaching minus 10 degrees Celsius on the 18th, compared with minus 43 degrees Celsius in the same period in previous years. Lazara said: "This temperature should appear in January, not March. January there is summer. That's an exaggeration. ”
The Associated Press quoted Walter Meyer, a scientist at the National Center for Ice and Snow Data Research, as saying that temperatures in mid-March in the Arctic were about 30 degrees Celsius higher than the average in the same period of previous years, and in some areas the temperature even approached or reached freezing points, which is extremely rare.
This is the Northern Lights photographed on February 10 in the swedish capital, north of Stockholm. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Wei Xuechao)
Meyer said the north and south poles are currently opposite seasons, but the simultaneous extreme heat weather is "absolutely unusual" and "quite amazing."
Both Lazara and Meyer believe that the current hot weather in Antarctica may also be just accidental. However, once a similar situation occurs again or repeatedly, it can be worrying.
Researchers at the University of Maine said that based on weather models established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the overall temperature on the Antarctic continent was about 4.8 degrees Celsius higher on the 18th of this month compared with the average of the same period from 1979 to 2000, the Overall Arctic region was 3.3 degrees Celsius higher, and the global region as a whole was 0.6 degrees Celsius higher.
Globally, the average temperature from 1979 to 2000 was about 0.3 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th-century average.
According to the National Ice and Snow Data Research Center, Antarctica's sea ice area fell to about 1.9 million square kilometers in late February, the first time since 1979 that it has fallen below the 2 million square kilometer mark. In addition, the Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the planet, and warm air over the Atlantic Ocean is moving north from the coast of Greenland. (Wang Xinfang)