In recent days, temperatures have been measured at the South Pole that are 40 degrees higher than normal. Italian researchers shared a photo on Twitter in which they pose in boxer shorts at minus 12 degrees Celsius, which is unusual for Antarctica. According to Reto Knutti, ETH professor and climate researcher, such temperatures are rare in Antarctica. But the extremes will increase.
SRF News: Researchers call the temperatures unprecedented, historic, dramatic. Do you share this assessment?
Reto Knutti: It’s actually almost impossible to keep up with superlatives here. Such an event can hardly be described. But it is perhaps even more impressive when you put it in the context of existing records. Usually these are broken by a few tenths. Here they broke the record for March by 15 to 20 degrees depending on the station. Everything that already existed has really been pulverized.
How likely is such an extreme event at the South Pole?
The weather is of course variable in all places. But here we are in what would be characterized as maybe one in a million or even less. However, the last 30 to 50 years of weather observation just aren’t good enough to judge that at all. We are discovering a whole new clamping range here.
It’s a crazy weather pattern, but it’s also clear that climate change is involved.
How can such temperatures arise at the South Pole?
Normally, Antarctica is relatively isolated from the rest of the world in terms of weather. But every once in a while there are weather systems that come to the Antarctic Plateau as well. In this case, it is a relatively narrow corridor of very humid, warm air (an “atmospheric flow”, editor’s note). It’s a crazy weather pattern, but it’s also clear that climate change is involved. It’s a symbol of what we see everywhere; an increase in extremely hot situations.
How bad are such temperatures effectively?
Nothing concrete is happening at the South Pole itself now. But it’s also very warm elsewhere in Antarctica. And in the Antarctic alone, about 60 meters of sea level are stored in gigantic masses of ice. So if only a small part of Antarctica melts, not in the center but at the edge, also due to higher water temperatures, then of course we have a big problem because the sea level is rising and many cities are close to the sea.
Legend:
-12.2 degrees were measured in east Antarctica last week – that’s 40 degrees warmer than the average for this time of year, and 20 degrees warmer than the previous record set in March. Extremely high temperatures were also measured at the North Pole: At almost 0 degrees Celsius, it is currently 30 degrees warmer than usual in spring.
imago images
The current heatwave follows an extremely severe winter with record-breaking temperatures in Antarctica. How is this to be understood?
These events are not necessarily always directly related. But what we see clearly is that the accumulation of hot situations, droughts and heavy rainfall with corresponding effects are also linked to climate change. This will continue to develop in the future. Not only will we see an accumulation of extremes as we know them, but we will also see those far beyond the known.
This has nothing to do with alarmism, this is reality.
Critics would call that alarmist. What do you say?
This has nothing to do with alarmism. That’s the reality. Climate change is man-made, and we will see the signs not just in the future, but today. These are the facts that cannot be disputed. On the other hand, we can discuss how we deal with it. There is definitely a need for discussion. We are not on course at the moment. We have ratified a climate target. But efforts to achieve it are far from sufficient.
Adam Fehr conducted the interview.