A report issued by Universidad de Santiago (Usach) disclosed that the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula is recording the hottest year in the last three decades (1989-2020).

According to Dr Raúl Cordero, Usach’s academician and leader of the research team, the temperatures this year are more than 2°C above the usual values. He also said that in the northern part of the peninsula, the average temperature throughout the year has been above 0°, which has not occurred for 31 years.

From January until now, there have been 4 heat waves: 2 took place during the summer, 1 in autumn and the last between 9 and 11 July. Likewise, the scientists registered 34 days with maximum temperatures, considered very high (regarding the 90th percentile, calculated between 1981 and 2010); this is the 6th highest value recorded in King George Island since 1970 and the highest since 2006. It is important to clarify that these 34 days with high temperatures represent a much greater figure than the 20 days that were typically registered during the same period of the year during the last decade.