Minus 12掳C would be a frigid afternoon almost anywhere except Antarctica. But when the temperature hit -12.2掳C on 18 March at Concordia research station, 1600 kilometres from the South Pole, it was the highest reading recorded at that location.
The exceptional conditions were driven by atmospheric rivers that have brought warm, wet air to the Antarctic continent more frequently in recent years, says at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. She says human-caused warming could be making these currents more intense.
A few weeks earlier, another Antarctic record fell, as sea ice reached its lowest minimum extent on record, continuing a pattern of decline driven by warmer oceans.
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Freshwater ice wasn鈥檛 faring too well either. The southern summer ended with the collapse of the Los Angeles-sized Conger ice shelf, an indication that ice in east Antarctica is more vulnerable than we thought.
At the opposite end of the world, efforts to manage the Arctic鈥檚 pressing issues, from wildfires to ice-free shipping lanes to thawing permafrost, became complicated by geopolitical events. All members of the diplomatic Arctic Council except Russia suspended participation in March following Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine. The war 鈥渉as sucked all of the air out of any conversation regarding Arctic geopolitics or cooperation鈥�, says at the RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank.
Temperatures were rising in other ways, too. In September, warm and wet remnants of Hurricane Fiona brought record heat to Greenland and caused billions of tonnes of ice to melt in a 鈥渧ery bizarre鈥� event, says at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. Faster melting is a trend that is set to continue in 2023.
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