Antarctica Temperature Touched All Time High Last Week

Antarctica saw its warmest days last week, after a maximum 17.5 C was recorded last Tuesday.

Global warming has seen Antarctic temperatures rise by 2.8 C during the last 50 years with increased glacier melting and ice thinning. Tuesday's maximum was recorded by an Argentinean research station on Antarctic Peninsula. Incidentally, last week's maximum came a day after a near identical recording at another peninsular base station, reports Mashable.

According to TIME, the standing record for the highest temperature is 17.1 C recorded on April 24, 1961. The latest readings will have to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization which will test the efficacy of the equipment and decid if the location of the two stations qualifies for inclusion in Antarctic temperature records.

"The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming spots on Earth," said the Weather Underground blog which reported last week's maximums, adding, "while the Earth as a whole warmed up by 1.3°F between 1900 and 2011, the Antarctic Peninsula warmed by 5° F, forcing massive ice shelves to disintegrate and penguin colonies to collapse."