Scientists have found a new threshold for how far temperatures can plummet below zero on Earth, according to a study published this week in Geophysical Research Letters.
Antarctica’s eastern plateau can see temperatures as cold as 144 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, according to new data that has been added to a preliminary study from 2013. High altitude and a close proximity to the South Pole make this region the most favorable location for extreme cold of this magnitude.
The eastern plateau of Antartica is a barren, snowy region where surface-based weather instruments aren’t available in these pockets of extreme cold, so scientists used satellite data between 2004 and 2016 to come up with the minus 144 degrees Fahrenheit benchmark.
Small low-lying dips in the Antarctic ice sheet had the most frigid temperatures. Because cold air is dense, it funnels into the dips where it may stay trapped for several days when skies are clear and winds are light. This is similar to how cold air drains into valley locations at night elsewhere in the world.
Dry air is also key to the ultracold temperatures, the study found.
“In this area, we see periods of incredibly dry air, and this allows the heat from the snow surface to radiate into space more easily,” said Ted Scambos, the study’s lead author in a release from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
The study found that temperatures fall below minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit in a large swath of the plateau almost every winter, according to NSIDC. Satellites sensed that within this area about 100 locations had surface temperatures fall to minus 144 degrees Fahrenheit from 2004-2016.
Minus 144 degrees Fahrenheit is about the coldest temperatures can plunge on Earth, researchers said.
In the next year or two, the scientists hope to gather more data by deploying ground-based instruments in the coldest locations.
Vostok, Antarctica, currently holds the world record for the coldest temperature ever recorded by a land-based weather station. Minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit was observed on July 21, 1983.
