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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/10/record-winter-temperatures-in-antarctic-raise-fears-over-speed-of-climate-breakdown>
"Temperatures in the Antarctic climbed above 15C this month, shattering the
previous winter heat record for the usually frozen region and raising concerns
about the speed of climate breakdown.
The new winter peak temperature was logged by the Argentinian Esperanza base on
the Trinity peninsula on 6 June amid a protracted heatwave, when the maximum
daily temperature exceeded zero degrees for three consecutive weeks.
Scientists said the high of 15.4C broke the previous record set at the same
station in 1998 by 2C. “This is absolutely crazy,” said Raúl Cordero, an
Ecuadorian climate professor at the University of Groningen. “It is also about
20C above normal for this time of the year. That is a huge anomaly.”
Unusually strong warm winds from the north blew across much of the Antarctic
peninsula. One Chilean weather station, Boonen Rivera, registered temperatures
of close to 13C, Cordero said.
On King George Island, 100 miles (160km) from Esperanza, researchers said the
landscape had changed from mostly white to brown, grey and green after
temperatures hit 4.6C on 6 June.
“Last weekend was very strange. The temperatures here went very high so
everything outside melted,” said Luis Muñoz, a Chilean glaciologist. “Usually
there is 20cm of snow and a lot of ice on the ground at this time.”
Muñoz said he and a colleague, Natalia Mestre, climbed to the 500-metre peak of
the nearby Collins glacier last Wednesday and were surprised to find rain
melting the ice. “There was a direct impact on the glacier, which should be
receiving snow now. It should not be suffering ablation at this time of the
year. This is obviously not good for the glacier.”
The Antarctic region is coming under increasing human pressure, directly in the
form of resource exploration and tourism and indirectly through the burning of
fossil fuels, which is heating the planet."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
