Antarctica records hottest temperature ever, experts say 'planet in trouble'

Research base in Antarctica has recorded the hottest temperature ever from the continent, international media reported. This revelation comes when concerns from global warming and increased melting ice sheets around the south pole are on the rise.

Antarctica peninsula is the fastest-warming region

The Esperanza base in the northern tip of Antarctic peninsula recorded a temperature of 18.3 degree Celsius, the highest ever on record, the World Meteorological Departement said on Friday. Speaking in Geneva, WMO spokesman Clare Nullis on Friday reportedly said it wasn’t a figure that would be normal in Antarctica, not even in summers. It has beaten the previous 17.5 degrees C which itself was a setback back in 2015.

She went on to say that the Antarctic peninsula is amongst the fastest-warming regions of the planet. She also said that people hear a lot about the arctic but that part of Antarctica is warming very quickly. A WMO committee will verify whether the temperature logged by Argentina's national meteorological service is a new record for the Antarctic continent. The record in the wider Antarctic region is 19.8 degrees C in January 1982.

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Scientists now believe that global warming had caused the melting in the South Pole and that a giant ice sheet is in the process of disintegration. The dissolution of the Ice Sheet could eventually lead to sea-level rise of at least three meters,10 feet over centuries, international media reported. Nullis added that the amount of ice lost annually from the Antarctic ice sheet increased at least six-fold between 1979 and 2017 citing images from cracks in glaciers in Antarctica before saying that the melting from these glaciers meant the planet was in big trouble when it came to sea-level rise. 

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A few days ago, scientists made yet another alarming discovery - 'warm' water under the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. According to international media reports, scientists recorded water temperatures at 2 degrees Celsius in the usually frigid environment of Antarctica, marking a first.