Summer 2024 is on track to be the hottest on record for hundreds of cities across the U.S. and globe.
Summer 2024 is on track to be the hottest on record for hundreds of cities across the U.S. and globe. Even in Antarctica, during the peak of its winter, extreme heat pushed temperatures in parts of the continent more than 50°F above the July normal.
In a study published on July 31 in the journal Earth’s Future, scientists, including CU Boulder researchers, revealed how heat waves, especially those occurring in Antarctica’s cold seasons, may impact the animals living there. The research illustrates how extreme weather events intensified by climate change could have profound implications for the continent’s fragile ecosystems.
In March 2022, the most intense heat wave ever recorded on Earth hit Antarctica, just as organisms in the southern region braced themselves for the long, harsh winter ahead. The extreme weather raised temperatures in parts of Antarctica to more than 70°F above average, melting glaciers and snow even in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the planet’s coldest and driest regions.
As part of a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in Antarctica, the research team found that the unexpected melt followed by a rapid refreeze likely disrupted the life cycles of many organisms and killed a large swath of some invertebrates in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.
Read more at University of Colorado at Boulder
Image: The dry valleys of Antarctica form the coldest, driest, and windiest ecosystems known. (Credit: Michael Gooseff/CU Boulder)
