In 1994 it was returned to the laboratory for testing and then sent for use in the Antarctic. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. The current melting has been brought on by the arrival of the same warm air from North Africa and Spain that melted European cities and towns last week, setting national temperature records in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Britain. "It is testimony to the dedication of climate scientists and weather historians that we are now able to investigate many of these older records and secure a better global understanding of not only current, but also historical, climate extremes," said Professor Taalas. (Photo via Caspar Haarløv, Into the Ice via AP) The content is provided for information purposes only. Greenland's ice sheet experienced record melting last year that was driven by hotter temperatures and more frequent atmospheric circulation patterns triggered by … To show a specific month, type in the 3 letter month name abbreviation in the Search box. And 100 billion tons (110 billion U.S. tons) corresponds to a 0.28 mm (0.01 inch) rise in global sea levels. This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, and provide content from third parties. A June 2019 study by scientists in the U.S. and Denmark said melting ice in Greenland alone will add between 5 and 33 centimeters (2 to 13 inches) to rising global sea levels by the year 2100. Your opinions are important to us. part may be reproduced without the written permission. and Terms of Use. “This is certainly a weather event superimposed on this overall trend of warmer conditions” that have increasingly melted Greenland ice over the long term, Serreze said. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. With man-made climate change, “there’s a potential for these kind of rates to become more common 50 years from now,” Moon said. But the long-term forecast is for continuing warm and sunny weather in Greenland, so that means the amount of the ice loss will continue,” she said Thursday in a telephone interview from Copenhagen. To search for a specific date, surround the date with quotes: "Aug 01" You can change your choices at any time by visiting Your Privacy Controls. This newly recognized cold record is an important reminder about the stark contrasts that exist on this planet," said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recognized a temperature of -69.6°C (-93.3°F) at an automatic weather station in Greenland on 22 December 1991 as the coldest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. (Photo via Caspar Haarløv, Into the Ice via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Temperature in Greenland averaged -18.58 celsius from 1823 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 0.34 celsius in July of 2009 and a record low of -37.66 celsius in February of 1868. Even though temperatures will be going down in Greenland by the end of this week, the ice melt is not likely to stop anytime soon, Mottram said. Mottram said since June 1 — roughly the start of the ice-loss season — the Greenland ice sheet has lost 240 gigatons (240 billion metric tons) this year. More than 10 billion tons (11 billion U.S. tons) of ice was lost to the oceans by surface melt on Wednesday alone, creating a net mass ice loss of some 197 billion tons (217 billion U.S. tons) from Greenland in July, she said. Records go back to 1981. In Alaska, temperatures reached as high as 32.2° Celsius (90° Fahrenheit) on July 6. Greenland has also been battling a slew of Arctic wildfires, something that Mottram said was uncommon in the past. Temperature in Greenland decreased to -26.40 celsius in December from -24.95 celsius in November of 2015. She says that’s expected to expand and peak on Thursday before cooler temperatures slow the pace of the melt. "This investigation highlights the ability of today's climate scientists to not only identify modern climate records but to play 'climate detective' and uncover important past climate records—thereby creating a high-quality long-term record of climate for climate-sensitive regions of the world," said Professor Randall Cerveny, rapporteur of climate and weather extremes for WMO. Such diligence indicates a high degree of detail and quality of observation. Click here to sign in with The committee commended the station's original project scientists in the careful maintenance of the calibrations and metadata for an observation made so long ago. The heat wave that smashed high temperature records in five European countries a week ago is now over Greenland, accelerating the melting of the island's ice sheet and causing massive ice loss in the Arctic. Central Greenland is now the record-holder for extreme cold in the Northern Hemisphere. According to DMI, the highest temperature recorded at Nuuk was 24.2C, back in July 1908. Information about your device and internet connection, including your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Verizon Media websites and apps. This document is subject to copyright. We and our partners will store and/or access information on your device through the use of cookies and similar technologies, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. The global record temperature is, of course, also the record high for … As for his ridiculous map, supposedly showing Greenland temperatures 20C warmer than normal in April, it presumably has not occurred to him that there ARE NO WEATHER STATIONS IN THE INTERIOR OF GREENLAND. The world's coldest temperature record, of -89.2°C (-128.6°F) on 21 July 1983, is held by the high-altitude Vostok weather station in Antarctica. This was before WMO began evaluating global extremes, as the World Weather and Climate Extremes archive was established in 2007. Compounding the melt, the Greenland ice sheet started out behind this year because of the low ice and snow accumulation, said Snow and Ice Data Center scientist Twila Moon. This page includes a chart with historical data for Greenland Average Temperature. The weather station at Verkhoyanksk, which previously held the northern hemisphere cold temperature record, hit the headlines when it recorded a temperature of 38°C on 20 June during a prolonged Siberian heatwave. You can be assured our editors closely monitor every feedback sent and will take appropriate actions. Yahoo is part of Verizon Media. However the team that installed the automatic weather station had kept excellent records that enabled us to verify rapidly that this was an accurate measurement. It eclipses the value of -67.8°C recorded at the Russian sites of Verkhoyanksk (February 1892) and Oimekon (January 1933). Heat waves have always occurred, but Mike Sparrow, a spokesman for the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, noted that as global temperatures have risen, extreme heat waves are now occurring at least 10 times more frequently than a century ago. If all the ice in Greenland melted — which would take centuries — the world’s oceans would rise by 7.2 meters (23 feet, 7 inches), the study found. The WMO confirmed on Wednesday that an automated weather station named Klinck, located near the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet, measured a temperature of -69.6°C (-93.3°F) on December 22, 1991. The record came to light only after a WMO blue-ribbon international panel of polar scientists tracked down the original scientists involved. "In the era of climate change, much attention focuses on new heat records. Thank you for taking your time to send in your valued opinion to Science X editors. WMO is currently verifying whether this is a new record high temperature north of the Arctic Circle (a new category for the archive). That broke the state’s previous heat record. Your feedback will go directly to Science X editors. The automatic weather station operated for two years in the early 1990s as part of a network established by the University of Wisconsin-Madison to record the meteorological conditions around the Greenland Crest during the Greenland Ice Sheet Project. The WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes includes records such as the world's highest and lowest temperatures, rainfall, heaviest hailstone, longest dry period, maximum gust of wind, longest lightning flash and weather-related mortalities. The record revealed that the warmest 200-year period before 1950 took place about 6,500 years ago, when global surface temperatures were approximately 1.25 … “It looks like the peak will be today. After extensive analysis of the equipment, observation practices and the synoptic weather situation of December 1991, the panel unanimously recommended acceptance of the observation as valid. Years of packing experience in Antarctica helped us keep our Automatic Weather Station safe and snug on the sleds being pulled by the snowmobiles," he said. "On Greenland, all of the sites were installed by snowmobile.