By David Middleton – WUWT
This story was previously discussed here at WUWT… But, why wasn’t this headline news in the Washington Post, New York Times, etc.? Yes… That was a rhetorical question.
Ultralow Surface Temperatures in East Antarctica From Satellite Thermal Infrared Mapping: The Coldest Places on Earth
T. A. Scambos, G. G. Campbell, A. Pope, T. Haran, A. Muto, M. Lazzara, C. H. Reijmer, M. R. van den Broeke
First published: 25 June 2018[…]
Plain Language Summary
The lowest measured air temperature on Earth is −89.2 °C (−129 F) on 23 July 1983, observed at Vostok Station in Antarctica (Turner et al., 2009, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012104). However, satellite data collected during the Antarctic polar night during 2004–2016 reveal a broad region of the high East Antarctic Plateau above Vostok that regularly reaches snow surface temperatures of −90 °C and below. These occur in shallow topographic depressions near the highest part of the ice sheet, at 3,800 to 4,050‐m elevation. Comparisons with nearby automated weather stations suggest that air temperatures during these events are near −94 ± 4 °C or about −138 F. Ultracold conditions (below −90 °C) occur more frequently when the Antarctic polar vortex is strong. This temperature appears to be about as low as it is possible to reach, even under clear skies and very dry conditions, because heat radiating from the cold clear air is nearly equal to the heat radiating from the bitterly cold snow surface.
[…]
Comparisons with nearby automated weather stations suggest that air temperatures during these events are near −94 ± 4 °C or about −138 F. Ultracold conditions (below −90 °C) occur more frequently when the Antarctic polar vortex is strong. This temperature appears to be about as low as it is possible to reach, even under clear skies and very dry conditions, because heat radiating from the cold clear air is nearly equal to the heat radiating from the bitterly cold snow surface.
The full text of the paper is still available.
How much colder could it have gotten at 280 ppmv CO2? Probably not any colder at all.
In even plainer language…
Jun 28, 2018, 12:58pm
‘It’s Almost Like Another Planet’ – Coldest Temperature On Earth Recorded In Antarctica
Trevor Nace
Contributor
ScienceAs summer starts heating up, scientists just published the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth. During the long, dark Antarctica winter temperatures dropped low enough to resemble other planets.
The temperature they measured? A stunning negative 144 degrees Fahrenheit (-97.8 degrees Celsius). At that temperature, just a few breaths of air would induce hemorrhaging in your lungs and quickly lead to death.
The temperature was recorded using satellite measurements in the middle of Antarctica during the depths of winter where the sun never rises. These findings, recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, are close to the theoretical coldest temperature Earth can get down to.
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These findings, recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, are close to the theoretical coldest temperature Earth can get down to.
The story was covered in Forbes, Fortune, NatGeo and a few other places… And it was worse than previously thought…
Live Science Planet Earth
The Coldest Place on Earth Is Even Colder Than Scientists Thought
By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 26, 2018
Scientists already knew that the lowest temperatures ever measured on Earth were on a frozen ice ridge in eastern Antarctica, near the South Pole. But they recently discovered that temperatures there can drop even lower than those previously measured.
In 2013, analysis of satellite data pinpointed scattered pockets of intensely cold air on the East Antarctic Plateau between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji — temperatures that dipped to a staggering minus 135 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 93 degrees Celsius).
However, new analysis of the same data suggests that under the right conditions, those temperatures can drop to nearly minus 148 degrees F (minus 100 degrees C), which is probably the coldest it can get on Earth, researchers reported in a new study.
[…]
Despite runaway tipping points of Gorebal Warming, pushing the Earth back to the Pliocene, Miocene, Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Cretaceous, Venus… well-within the Holocene noise level. It still gets as cold as theoretically possible in Antarctica.
