Oslo, Norway | AFP
The Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic saw its highest August temperature ever recorded at the weekend, topping 20 degrees Celsius, Norway’s Meteorological Institute said Monday.
The measurement of 20.3 degrees (68.5 Fahrenheit) was registered on Sunday at the weather station at Svalbard’s airport, the institute said in a statement posted on X, adding that a cold front was approaching.
“The temperature will remain high until it arrives this afternoon. Maybe it will be 20 degrees today too?” the institute said.
The previous August record was 18.1 Celsius, registered on August 31, 1997.
The highest temperature ever recorded on Svalbard was 21.7 Celsius on July 25, 2020, which beat the previous record set in 1979.
The Svalbard archipelago is located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole.
Average August temperatures recorded at the Svalbard airport are between six and nine degrees Celsius.
According to a study published in 2022 by Finnish and Norwegian researchers, the Arctic has warmed almost four times faster than the rest of the world since 1979.
Rising temperatures have melted sea ice which, in turn, contributes to accelerated warming in the region, a phenomenon known as “Arctic amplification”.
A report published in 2019 — “The Svalbard climate in 2100” — found that the average temperatures for the archipelago between 2070 and 2100 will rise by 7-10 degrees, due to the levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
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