On 13 February, for the first time in history, Antarctica recorded a temperature above 20 degrees Celsius. The thermometer reached 20.7 degrees at Seymour Island, surpassing the previous record set in January 1982 at Signy Island by almost one degree. Earlier, on 6 February, another extraordinary temperature had been reached in Argentina: 18.3 degrees at the Esperanza scientific base. The consequences of these records have been documented by Nasa, which published startling images.

"The real problem is the increasing frequency of such events in Antarctica"

Eagle Island lost 20 per cent of its mass in just ten days, between 4 and 13 February. The American space agency published two images: one taken before the extreme heatwave, the other at its end.

Mauri Pelto – a glaciologist at Nichols College, in Massachusetts – explained that during the event, in a single day – 6 February – the island lost 30 millimetres of ice. Then, between 6 and 11 February, the total reached 106 millimetres. This is the basis for the calculation estimating that the Antarctic island lost approximately one fifth of its total mass.

"The real problem," the scientist added, "is linked to the fact that events of this kind are occurring with increasing frequency." Climate change, indeed, will multiply heatwaves across the entire surface of the Earth.

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The Arctic Ocean also in the crosshairs of climate change

To the north, too, the Arctic Ocean could face dramatic consequences. According to the Ipcc Special Report 1.5, with a rise in average global temperature of 2 degrees Celsius – by the end of the century, relative to pre-industrial levels – the risk is of finding ourselves, once every ten years, in summer, with a complete melting of the polar ice caps.

A prospect that does not appear remote at all, also in light of the latest data. In January, both the American and European meteorological services confirmed new records in average global temperature.