the climate change is wreaking havoc and the war in Ukraine is bringing us closer to a point of no return. While the UN deplores that various countries are seeking alternatives to their energy dependence on Russia, scientists from the Antarctic They said they were shocked by significant temperature rise In the region.
Stefano Di Battista, Antarctic climatologist, warned that the eastern sector of the Meseta recorded an extraordinary temperature change. Concordia station, operated by France and Italy, recorded -12.2 degrees Celsius on March 18. This represents a 40 degrees rise above average and a new record, since the maximum recorded was -13.7 degrees in December 2016.
The day before, Di Battista had been surprised by a unthinkable temperature of -16.0 degrees Celsius. The station Vostok also broke a mark from 1974 after the thermometer registered -20.3 ºC, a difference of two degrees with what was documented in the last century.
“In 65 years, values above -30 degrees have never been observed between March and October in Vostok,” said Di Battista. To get an idea of its severity, the Russian meteorological observatory usually shows -53 degrees on these dates.
The cause could not be climate change
According to Jonathan Wille, a researcher in polar meteorology at the University of Grenoble Alpes in France, this phenomenon is unprecedented. Although reports of anomalous events in Antarctica are linked to global warming, the expert believes that it is difficult to attribute rising temperatures to climate change.
Wille explained to Washington Post What could be due to an atmospheric river end which made landfall last Tuesday and caused a storm between Casey and Dumont d’Urvulle stations.
Moisture could not dissipate due to high pressure system and retained large amounts of heat. Added to this is the energy that the liquid-rich clouds radiated to the surface and the possible melting caused by the intense rains.
Atmospheric rivers are narrow bands that carry water vapor in the form of clouds. According to the researcher, these corridors carry warm air to Antarctica, although one of this intensity was not recorded. Wille planned that could happen more timesit is therefore necessary to study its origin.
Global warming will wreak havoc on Antarctica
The meteorological expert does not believe that climate change is linked, although the the increase in global temperature generates optimal conditions for similar phenomena to occur. Other researchers agree that studies are needed to determine whether global warming will break more records in the region.
In February 2020, Brazilian scientists reported that the temperature of Antarctica has exceeded 20 degrees Celsius. The researchers took measurements on Seymour Island, where the thermometer read 20.7 ºC. This represents a variation of nearly three degrees from what existed in the pre-industrial era.
The increase in temperature in this region would be influenced by the El Niño phenomenon and changes in ocean currents. The UN predicts that we will witness a rise of 30 to 110 cm in sea level during this century.
