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  "path": "/2026/06/29/even-penguins-antarctica-feel-heat-temperatures-rise-15-c-normal-28966303/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-29T12:14:51.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "World",
    "Antarctica",
    "Climate Change",
    "Heatwave",
    "Science",
    "weather",
    "summer",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "The rift separating Pine Island Glacier and iceberg B-46 in the Antarctic (Picture: NASA/Brooke Medley/Cover Images)\n\nThe UK and Europe weren’t the only places experiencing an extreme June heatwave.\n\nTemperatures in the Antarctic rose by as much as 15°C above normal.\n\nSo warm was the weather, scientists at the UK’s Rothera Research Station say conditions are becoming increasingly unrecognisable.\n\nLong-term records show that while conditions typically average between -15°C and -20°C, temperatures last week reached around -2°C.\n\nEarlier this month, Rothera experienced conditions more typical of summer than winter, with rainfall and surface ice replacing the heavy snowfall usually expected, alongside exceptionally low sea-ice levels.\n\nThe tongue of the Thwaites Glacier (Picture: NASA/Brooke Medley/Cover Images)\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nNearly 50 years of observations at the station indicate a clear shift in winter conditions.\n\nPreliminary analysis suggests June 2025 was the warmest June recorded since monitoring began in the late 1970s, while early indications suggest June 2026 could also rank among the warmest on record.\n\nThe findings form part of a broader rapid-analysis study published this week, involving British Antarctic Survey scientists, which concludes that a recent Antarctic Peninsula heatwave was amplified by human-driven climate change.\n\nThe study, part of the ExtAnt project led by the British Antarctic Survey, examines the impacts of extreme weather on Antarctica and highlights how climate change is increasing both the likelihood and intensity of such events.\n\nEdge wasting as seen on the A23a iceberg in April 2024 (Picture: NASA/Brooke Medley/Cover Images)\n\nThe changes are not limited to temperature. Sea ice in the Bellingshausen Sea, west of the Antarctic Peninsula, has been in long-term decline, and this year marks the third time in four years that Rothera has experienced no sea ice at midwinter. Across the continent, Antarctic sea-ice extent has remained well below average in recent years.\n\nScientists say the reduction in sea ice has significant consequences. Sea ice acts as a buffer between the ocean and atmosphere, helping to shield the Antarctic coastline from storms. When that barrier is reduced, warmer, moisture-laden air from lower latitudes can more easily reach the continent, bringing rainfall, winter heatwaves and accelerating the loss of snow and ice.\n\nRothera Research Station daily air temperature in 2026, relative to the 1981-2010 (Picture: NASA/Brooke Medley/Cover Images)\n\nDr Tracy Moffat-Griffin, head of the Atmosphere, Ice and Climate team at the British Antarctic Survey, said: ‘While Antarctica remains one of the harshest environments on Earth, long-term records show that cold winter extremes around Rothera are becoming less common.\n\n‘Climate projections suggest this trend is likely to continue, with future winters characterised by fewer prolonged cold periods and more frequent warm events. It is an extremely worrying trend.’\n\nBecause Antarctic weather naturally varies from week to week, detecting long-term climate change requires decades of consistent observations.\n\nAs the British Antarctic Survey approaches 50 years of continuous monitoring at Rothera, scientists say the station’s records are becoming an increasingly valuable tool for understanding how the Antarctic Peninsula is responding to a warming climate, and what these changes may mean for future scientific operations.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Even penguins in Antarctica feel the heat after temperatures rise 15°C above normal"
}