The Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard has broken its August heat record, exceeding 20 degrees Celsius for the first time in recorded history.
On Sunday, 20.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at the airport in Longyearbyen, the largest city in the archipelago, on the island of Spitsbergen. “This is the first time in August that the temperature at Svalbard airport has reached above 20 degrees,” the Norwegian Meteorological Institute noted. The previous warmest month in Svalbard was on August 31, 1997, when the temperature reached 18.1 degrees Celsius.
This is not the only record that has been broken this month on the Norwegian archipelago. In the Hornsund fjord, located in the southwestern part of Spitsbergen, 16.2 degrees Celsius was recorded. The previous record for August was 15.1 degrees Celsius.
The absolute temperature record in Svalbard was set on July 25, 2020. It is 21.7 degrees.
Svalbard is about 1000 kilometers from the North Pole. The average temperature in August is 6-9 degrees Celsius.
Arctic reinforcement
The Arctic is experiencing a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. It is warming much faster than other latitudes – four times faster than the global average.
According to a 2019 Norwegian official report, the average temperature on Svalbard in the period 2070-2100 is expected to increase by 7-10 degrees compared to the period 1970-2000.
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