Highest temperature recorded on Earth

The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air, 1.5 meters above the ground, and shielded from direct sunlight. The highest confirmed temperature on Earth recorded according to these measures was 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) in Furnace Creek Ranch, California, located in the Death Valley desert in the United States, on July 10, 1913.[1][2][3]

The former highest official temperature on Earth, held for 90 years by ‘Aziziya, Libya, was de-certified by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) in January 2012 as the record for the world's highest surface temperature (this temperature of 57.8 °C (136 °F), registered on 13 September 1922, is currently considered to have been a recorder's error).[4] Christopher C. Burt, the weather historian writing for Weather Underground who shepherded the Libya reading's 2012 disqualification, believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is "a myth", and is at least four or five degrees Fahrenheit too high,[3] as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid.[5] Burt proposes that the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth is still at Death Valley, but is instead 53.9 °C (129 °F) recorded five times: 20 July 1960, 18 July 1998, 20 July 2005, 7 July 2007, and 30 June 2013.[6][7]

Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by 30 to 50 °C.[8] A ground temperature of 84 °C (183.2 °F) has been recorded in Port Sudan, Sudan.[9] A ground temperature of 93.9 °C (201 °F) was recorded also in Furnace Creek Ranch on 15 July 1972; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded.[10] The theoretical maximum possible ground surface temperature has been estimated to be between 90 and 100 °C for dry, darkish soils of low thermal conductivity.[11]

Temperature measurements via satellite also tend to capture occurrence of higher records but are considered less reliable than ground-positioned thermometers. There is a satellite record of 66.8 °C (152.2 °F) measured in the Flaming Mountains of China in 2008.[12] Other satellite measurements of ground temperature taken between 2003 and 2009, taken with the MODIS infrared spectroradiometer on the Aqua satellite, found a maximum temperature of 70.7 °C (159.3 °F), which was recorded in 2005 in the Lut Desert, Iran. The Lut Desert was also found to have the highest maximum temperature in 5 of the 7 years measured (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009.) These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "NCDC Global measured extremes". Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  2. ↑ World: Highest Temperature World Meteorological Organization Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Doubts Cloud Death Valley's 100-year Heat Record". Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  4. ↑ Weather Extremes, Weather Underground - Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Death Valley's 134F Record Temperature Study Part One". Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  6. ↑ Burt, Christopher C. "Hottest air temperatures reported on Earth". Weather Underground. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Burt, Christopher C. "Summary of Southwest Heat Event through July 2nd". Weather Underground. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  8. 1 2 Mildrexler, David J.; Zhao, Maosheng; Running, Steven W. "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 2011: 855–860 [855–857]. doi:10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1.
  9. ↑ Table 9.2, p. 158, Dryland Climatology, Sharon E. Nicholson, Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 1139500244.
  10. ↑ A possible world record maximum natural ground surface temperature, Paul Kubecka, Weather, 56, #7 (July 2001), Weather, pp. 218-221, doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.2001.tb06577.x.
  11. ↑ Extreme Maximum Land Surface Temperatures, J. R. Garratt, Journal of Applied Meteorology, 31, #9 (September 1992), pp. 1096–1105, doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1992)031<1096:EMLST>2.0.CO;2
  12. ↑ "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 92: 855–860. July 2011. doi:10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1. Retrieved 20 October 2014.

See also

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