Antarctica

A pedestrian uses an umbrella to get some relief from the sun as they walk past a sign displaying the temperature on June 20, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. As 2020 comes to a close so does the hottest recorded decade.

NPR News

2020 May Be The Hottest Year On Record. Here's The Damage It Did

Rebecca Hersher

2020 and 2016 are virtually tied for the hottest year on record. That means more powerful hurricanes, more intense wildfires, less ice and longer heat waves.

Satellite images show the effects of a prolonged warm spell on Eagle Island, in the far north of the Antarctic Peninsula, NASA says. An inch of snowpack melted in just one day, the agency says. The blue areas in snow on the right are ponds of melted water.

NPR News

'Antarctica Melts,' NASA Says, Showing Effects Of A Record Warm Spell

Bill Chappell

Taken just nine days apart, two images illustrate the impact a recent warm period had on the Antarctic Peninsula. NASA says such warmth "has become more common in recent years."

Penguins gather near a Chilean research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, not far from the Argentine station that reported the record high temperature Thursday. World meteorological experts still need to verify the record, but it does fit with a broader pattern of warming on the continent.

It Was 65 Degrees In Antarctica This Week

Colin Dwyer

The preliminary finding, reported by Argentine researchers on the Antarctic Peninsula, would be the continent's hottest temperature on record if verified by the World Meteorological Organization.