Coldest Places on Earth Found, In Antarctica, Of Course
Where is the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth?
"It's in Antarctica of course," Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., said here today (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
That temperature? A mind- — and body-numbing — minus 136 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 93.2 Celsius), measured in pockets scattered near a high ice ridge between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji, two summits on the East Antarctic Plateau.Other sources are reporting the number at 135.8°F (93.2 °C)
The temperature measurement came from the most detailed global surface-temperature maps made to date, which were created using data from the new Landsat 8 satellite, launched in February, and 32 years' worth of data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites and instruments aboard several other satellites.
Researchers began looking at these frigid pockets after they noticed cracks in the snow between large snow dunes on the plateau and wondered if super low temperatures might be creating the cracks by causing the snow on the surface to shrink. This led them to begin the search for the coldest places on the planet.
They turned to the temperature records from the satellites, whose instruments measure the thermal radiation emitted at Earth's surface. The coldest temperature they found occurred on Aug. 10, 2010 (winter in the Southern Hemisphere). The temperature is essentially the same "as if you were to take your hand and put it on the surface of the snow. I don't recommend that, as, in this case, that would be colder than dry ice," Scambos said. It's "50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska, or Siberia," he added....MORE
The Russians are disputing the new record saying the measurement taken at the old Soviet Vostok base is the true number.
From the old propagandists at RT:
American scientists claim they have found the coldest place on Earth - in Antarctica, where temperatures can fall below -91C. One Russian scientist calls this into question, pointing out the new record was made using remote measurements.And from the Daily Mail:
American researchers from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) prepare to make public satellite temperature measurements data which maintains that a record temperature of -91.2°C was registered in Antarctica on August 3, 2004, near the Japanese Dome Fuji station, situated on the Valkyrie Dome in the heart of the White Continent.
The preface of the report prepared for the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco suggests that the space-borne Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors aboard NASA’s satellites registered the record low temperature “during periods of extensive clear sky conditions” nearly a decade ago “along the highest section of the East Antarctic ice divide.”
The report also maintains that the “winters of 1997, 2001, 2003, and 2004 showed several temperature minima below -90°C.”
“It is likely that record cold sites identified by the data have small areas within them that are significantly colder than the grid cell mean,' a published summary of the findings said.
So far the lowest temperature was also measured in Antarctica, at the then-Soviet Vostok station, where during the winter of 1983 a record –89.2°C was officially registered....MORE
