In most settlements of Russia, the air temperature in winter rarely drops below zero degrees by more than 30-40 degrees. But this is not the limit.
Even on a warm and fairly comfortable planet Earth there are areas with a harsh frosty climate. The story of where the lowest air temperature in the world can impress anyone is presented in this article.
A little bit about the concept of "temperature"
Even in ancient times, the concept of temperature appeared. Since then it has not undergone significant changes. And in antiquity, it was considered the temperature of "heating" of any body, and now. There are differences only in the description of its essence.
People of those times believed that temperature is the result of the presence of some matter in zero gravity in the body - a calorific value. But modern scientists believe that temperature is a measure of the internal energy of any body. It is caused by the chaotic movement of particles, molecules, of which the body consists.
The following is a place where the lowest temperature in the world, but before - about the situation in the universe.
About the coldest place in the universe
The universe abounds in places where temperatures reach unimaginable and beyond limits. The coldest of the known objects of the universe today is the young planetary nebula Boomerang. It is located in the constellation Centaurus at a huge distance from the Earth - 5000 light years. It formed around a central bright star when it dropped a cloud of gas during one of the last stages of its life.
The nebula, gradually expanding, emits cooled gas at a speed of 500 thousand km per hour, whose molecules have a temperature of -271 ° Celsius. This is the result of the huge speed of their release. Most likely, this officially recorded natural temperature is not extreme.
What causes severe cold on Earth?
As a rule, the lowest temperatures in the world are formed in clear weather and calm air, combined with the geography of the area.
Geographically, the lowest temperatures are far from the oceans and near the poles. The plateaus of Central and Eastern Siberia, East Antarctica and Central Greenland have the most suitable conditions.
It is colder also on the hills. For example, several years ago, American scientists in eastern Antarctica climbed up the continent in search of minimal “heat”. The highest point is the Argus dome (height - 4093 m). This is 664 meters above the location of the Vostok station. This dome is always calm air and clear, clear sky, which is suitable for extreme cold.
The lowest temperature in the world
At the Vostok station, the so-called “heating” is the lowest indicator in the whole world (for the observation period starting from 1912). It is likely that somewhere on the Earth it was even colder somewhere, but at that time there was no such equipment with which it would be possible to make accurate measurements.
The recorded lowest temperature in the world for all time of observations was recorded in Antarctica in 1983. This is the location of the Vostok station. The temperature at that time was -89.2 ° Celsius. The measurement was made by polar explorers and recorded in the observation log.
In 2013, American scientists reported on the opening of a new area in Antarctica, where quite often the temperature is set below the record. According to their data, the temperature in this region can reach extreme values (-93.2 ° C). It should be noted that a person at this temperature will die in literally 1-2 minutes. It is hard to imagine such a low temperature.
The value is not officially accepted as a record. After the announcement of such inconceivable quantities, the World Meteorological Organization did not accept them as an extreme weather phenomenon, since the international committee that checks such weather conditions does not recognize the value measured by remote sensing as an official report.
How was the research done?
As noted above, the lowest temperature in the world is recorded in Antarctica. According to the latest NASA data, the site with the lowest temperature is located high in the mountains of Antarctica, on the eastern Antarctic plateau between the peaks of Fuji and Argus. The measurements were performed using the Landset 8 satellite.
Researchers have assumed that there is an area in Antarctica with a temperature below a fixed minimum that arose after faults were discovered on a plateau in the snow dunes. At the first stage of their work, American researchers carried out temperature measurements from satellites using a MODIS spectroradiometer and an AVHRR radiometer. Extreme minus temperatures are recorded on the ridge (length 620 miles) between the peaks of Argus and Fuji. But even lower temperatures were noted in the pockets of the ridge.
Further research was continued by the more sensitive TIRS infrared radiometer installed on the new Landset 8 satellite.
From 2003 to 2013, using remote sensing, the lowest temperature in the world was found in small depressions in the vast expanses of boundless ice, in the vicinity of the Argus dome.
