昨年２月の南極で１８．３度、最高記録に認定　国連

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】国連の世界気象機関（ＷＭＯ）は２日、南極大陸で２０２０年２月６日に観測された気温１８．３度を、同地での最高気温の新記録として認定した。（写真は資料写真）
　新記録が観測されたのは、南極半島にあるアルゼンチンの南極観測基地エスペランサ。
　ＷＭＯのペッテリ・ターラス事務局長は、「今回の最高気温記録の検証は、地球の最後のフロンティアの一つである南極半島の気象・気候状況を把握する上で重要だ」と述べた。
　同氏はさらに、「南極半島は地球上で最も急速に温暖化している地域の一つであり、過去５０年間で（気温が）約３度上昇した」と述べ、「今回の記録は、われわれが観測している気候変動と一致する」と説明した。
　南極大陸（周辺の島々を含む）で確認されたこれまでの最高気温は、２０１５年３月２４日に同じエスペランサ基地で観測された１７．５度だった。
　また、南極全域（南緯６０度以南）では、１９８２年１月３０日にシグニー島で１９．８度が記録された。
　昨年２月９日には、南米に向かって北に伸びる南極半島にほど近いシーモア島にあるブラジルの自動観測装置で２０．７５度が記録されたが、国連はこの観測結果は認定しなかった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/07/02-16:03）

The United Nations on Thursday recognised a new record high temperature for the Antarctic continent, confirming a reading of 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) made last year.
The record heat was reached at Argentina's Esperanza research station on the Antarctic Peninsula on February 6, 2020, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said.
Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build up a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth's final frontiers, said WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas.
The Antarctic Peninsula is among the fastest-warming regions of the planet -- almost 3C over the last 50 years.
This new temperature record is therefore consistent with the climate change we are observing.
The WMO rejected an even higher temperature reading of 20.75C (69.4F), reported on February 9 last year at a Brazilian automated permafrost monitoring station on the nearby Seymour Island, just off the peninsula which stretches north towards South America.
The previous verified record for the Antarctic continent -- the mainland and its surrounding islands -- was 17.5C (63.5F) recorded at Esperanza on March 24, 2015.
The record for the wider Antarctic region -- everywhere south of 60 degrees latitude -- is 19.8C (67.6F), taken on Signy Island on January 30, 1982.
- Verification process -
In checking the two reported new temperature records, a WMO committee reviewed the weather situation on the peninsula at the time.
It found that a large high-pressure system created downslope winds producing significant local surface warming.
Past evaluations have shown that such conditions are conducive for producing record temperatures, the WMO said.
The experts looked at the instrumental set-ups and the data, finding no concerns at Esperanza.
However, an improvised radiation shield at the Brazilian station on Seymour Island led to a demonstrable thermal bias error for the permafrost monitor's air temperature sensor, making its reading ineligible to be signed off as an official WMO weather observation.
The new record at Esperanza will be added to the WMO's archive of weather and climate extremes.
The archive includes 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 lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was minus 89.2C (minus 128.6F) recorded at Vostok station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983.
- Global warming concerns -
Antarctica's average annual temperature ranges from about minus 10C (14F) on the coast to minus 60C (minus 76F) at the highest parts of the interior.
Even more so than the Arctic, the Antarctic is poorly covered in terms of continuous and sustained weather and climate observations and forecasts, even though both play an important role in driving climate and ocean patterns and in sea level rise, said Taalas.
The Earth's average surface temperature has gone up by 1C since the 19th century, enough to increase the intensity of droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones.
But the air over Antarctica has warmed more than twice that much.
Recent research has shown that warming of two degrees Celsius could push the melting of ice sheets atop Greenland and the West Antarctic -- with enough frozen water to lift oceans 13 metres (43 feet) -- past a point of no return.
This new record shows once again that climate change requires urgent measures, said WMO first vice president Celeste Saulo, the head of Argentina's national weather service.
It is essential to continue strengthening the observing, forecasting and early warning systems to respond to the extreme events that take place more and more often due to global warming.