Arctic And Antarctica Both Experience Freakish Extreme Heat Simultaneously
The Arctic overall was also 6 degrees (3.3°) warmer on Friday than the average of 1979 to 2000.
The average global temperature was only 1.1 degrees (0.6 Celsius) higher than the average from 1979 to 2000. Globally, the average 1979-2000 temperature is only.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century.
Meier stated that Antarctic warming is unusual because the southern continent, except for its fragile peninsula, has not been warming as much, particularly when compared to other parts of the globe.
Antarctica did set a record in terms of summer sea ice, with records dating back to 1979. It shrank to 741,000 sq miles (1.9 million km2) in February, according to the snow and ice center.
Meier stated that it was likely that there was an “atmospheric river” which pumped warm and moist air southward from the Pacific.
The Arctic has seen warming two to three times faster that the rest of the world and is therefore considered to be vulnerable to climate change. Meanwhile, the warm Atlantic air was moving north from Greenland.
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