Fresh fears of accelerating damage to the planet’s ice sheets and sea level rise have been fueled by confirmation from the UN’s weather agency that the Antarctic likely saw a new temperature record of more than 18°C on Thursday. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, spokesperson Clare Nullis from the World Meteorological Organization said that the record reading taken in the north of the continent, would be considered unusual, even during the current warmer summer months. “It’s among the fastest-warming regions of the planet”, Ms. Nullis said of the Antarctic. “We hear a lot about the Arctic, but this particular part of the Antarctic peninsula is warming very quickly. Over the past 50 years it’s warmed almost 3°C.”
By UN News. February 7, 2020.
