NASA has released images showing extensive Antarctica snow melt over a period of days in early February that included the continent’s hottest temperature ever recorded. On February 6, Argentina’s Esperanza Base, a research station on Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula, registered a temperature 18.3 degrees Celsius. While the World Meteorological Organization is still verifying the February reading, new images from NASA show dramatic ice cap melting during the week the temperature was recorded. In a news release titled “Antarctica Melts Under Its Hottest Days on Record,” the space agency shared side-by-side images showing aerial views of Eagle Island on the Antarctic Peninsula’s northern tip on February 4 and February 13. In the second image, about 20% of the island’s seasonal snow accumulation had melted, according to NASA.

Source: Huffington Post February 23, 2020 21:11 UTC