The Coldest Place On Earth
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- Visualizations by:
- Lori Perkins
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- Written by:
- Kate Ramsayer
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Allen Pope,
- Garrett Campbell,
- James R. Irons,
- Ted Scambos, and
- Terry Haran
- View full credits
What is the coldest place in the world? It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau. On a clear winter night, temperatures there can drop to -135.8° Fahrenheit. The coldest spots develop just downhill from the ridge along a 620-mile stretch between two summits. When weather conditions are right, the ridge cools as it radiates heat into space. This creates a layer of super-chilled air above the surface of the snow and ice that collects in clusters of pockets on the ice sheet. Scientists analyzed 32 years’ worth of satellite data, including measurements made by NASA's Earth-observing fleet, and discovered a new record low was reached on August 10, 2010. Watch the video to learn more.
For More Information
See NASA.gov
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image courtesy of NSIDC/Atsuhiro Muto
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Animators
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Writer
- Kate Ramsayer (Telophase) [Lead]
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Video editor
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Scientists
- Allen Pope (NSIDC) [Lead]
- Garrett Campbell (NSIDC) [Lead]
- James R. Irons (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Ted Scambos (NSIDC) [Lead]
- Terry Haran (University of Colorado) [Lead]
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Producer
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Narrator
- Ted Scambos (NSIDC)
Related Pages
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ID: 11432 Produced Video
Briefing Materials: Taking Landsat to the Extreme
Read moreAt 2:30pm (PST) on Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, there was be a press conference as part of the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.What is the coldest place in the world? It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures in several hollows can dip below minus 133.6° Fahrenheit (minus 92° Celsius) on a clear winter night – colder than the previous recorded low temperature.Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center made the discovery while analyzing the most detailed global surface temperature maps to date, developed with data from remote sensing satellites including the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite, and the TIRS sensor on Landsat 8, a joint project of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).The researchers analyzed 32 years of data from several satellite instruments that have mapped Antarctica's surface temperature. Near a high ridge that runs from Dome Arugs to Dome Fuji, the scientists found clusters of pockets that have plummeted to record low temperatures dozens of times. The lowest temperature the satellites detected – minus 136° F (minus 93.2° C), on Aug. 10, 2010.The new record is several degrees colder than the previous low of minus 128.6° F (minus 89.2° C), set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica. The coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth is northeastern Siberia, where temperatures dropped to a bone-chilling 90 degrees below zero F (minus 67.8° C) in the towns of Verkhoyansk (in 1892) and Oimekon (in 1933).Related feature story: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-usgs-landsat-8-satellite-pinpoints-coldest-spots-on-earthBriefing SpeakersTed Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA;Jim Irons, Landsat 8 Project Scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.Presenter 1: Ted Scambos ||
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