The lowest temperature on earth has been recorded. Where is it coldest in Russia?
The weather is changing again, and here's a look at some of the insanely cold places where people actually live.
The lowest ever recorded was minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-89.2°C) at a Russian research station in Antarctica, Vostok, on July 21, 1983. While most cities aren't as terribly cold, some are still pretty close to that mark. Below are the eight coldest cities in the world where people live.
1) Verkhoyansk, Russia
According to the 2002 census, Verkhoyansk, Russia, has 1,434 inhabitants. It was founded as a fortress in 1638 and served as a regional center in animal husbandry and gold mining. Located 650 kilometers from Yakutsk, another cold place on our list, and 2,400 kilometers south of North Pole Verkhoyansk was used for political prisoners between 1860 and the beginning of the 20th century.
It’s not surprising why the undesirables were exiled here: in January average temperature is minus 50.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-45.7 °C), and average monthly temperature remains quite low from October to April. In 1892, residents recorded temperatures of minus 90 degrees F (-67.7 °C).
2) Oymyakon, Russia
People in Oymyakon object to Verkhoyansk being given the title of coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere, arguing that they have recorded temperature minimum at minus 90 degrees F (-67.7 °C) on February 6, 1933.
By the way, political prisoners were also often exiled here during the Stalinist regime. Oymyakon is located three days' drive from Yakutsk, and between 500 and 800 people live there. There is no mobile phone service here, there are few modern amenities at all, and schools in the village do not close at -52°C. Travel companies offer tours to Oymyakon as the “ideal destination” for an exotic adventure.
3) International Falls, Minnesota.
International Falls, Minnesota may not be as cold as Oymyakon, but it is one of the coldest places in the continental United States. About 6,703 people live in International Falls (2000 census), which straddles the US-Canada border.
Winters here are long and cold, with average temperatures in January of about 2.7 F (-16.2 °C). The mercury will reach zero on more than 60 nights per year, and the area receives a lot of snow (166 cm). International Falls is in a bidding war with the city of Fraser, Colorado over the use of the "Refrigerator Nation" brand name.
4) Fraser, Colorado.
Fraser, Colorado is located at an elevation of 2,600 meters in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and is home to 910 residents (as of the 2000 census). Located close to popular ski resort Winter Park, Fraser enjoys some of the coldest winters in the continental United States. The average annual temperature throughout the year reaches 32.5 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 0 °C), and in the summer drops to 29 degrees (-1.66 °C).
5) Yakutsk, Russia
Yakutsk has a reputation as the coldest city in the world. The world's lowest temperature outside Antarctica was recorded near Yakutsk in the Yana River basin. In winter, the average minimum drops below −40 °C, starting in October and lasting until the end of April. In January, the average temperature reaches -34 degrees Fahrenheit (-36.6°C); the record low temperature recorded in January is minus 81.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-63 °C).
6) Hell, Norway
Hell, which means “hell,” became famous in Norway for the very successful combination of its name and subarctic temperature. The average air temperature in February 2010 was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-6.6 °C). Behind last years The flow of tourists to this city has increased significantly, mainly to take pictures in front of one of the railway station signs.
Hell freezes on average for a third of the year, from December to March.
7) Barrow, Alaska
Barrow is the northernmost city in the United States and is located just 2,100 kilometers south of the North Pole and 510 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. small town, home to 4,581 people, was built in the region permafrost, which is characterized by the absence of periodic thawing and very harsh winters.
The sun sets at the end of November and does not appear until the end of January. Even during summer days the air is very cold. Average temperatures don't rise until June, and even then barely - July averages a high of 40.4 degrees Fahrenheit (4.6 °C).
Barrow is the economic center of the North Slope, and many of its residents work in the energy industry. The city can only be reached by plane or sea.
8) Snedge, Canada
Located in the Yukon Territory, the village of Snedge was the first settlement in the Klondike during the Gold Rush. The village in the White River Valley recorded its lowest temperature of minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit (-62.8 °C) on February 3, 1947. This is the lowest recorded temperature in the continental North America. The average temperature in Snedge ranges between 10.3 °F (-12.05 °C) and 34.3 °F (1.2 °C).
Normal human body temperature is 36.6 degrees. Therefore, he automatically perceives everything that is higher as hotter. The only question is how hot. For example, a shower with a temperature of 40 degrees is a pleasure, but the skin can no longer tolerate 45 degrees. Hot tea at a temperature of 45-50 degrees warms and relaxes, but at 60-70 it can already burn.
But these values differ only slightly from normal body temperature, whereas even on our planet, which is familiar and cozy, they can be much higher. And if you want to know when and where the highest temperature on Earth was recorded, read this article.
Air
In summer in Russia the temperature does not even reach 30-35 degrees everywhere, but even this is perceived by many as a branch of hell.
At the same time, there are much hotter places on our planet. For example, in the Libyan desert near the surface of the earth in 2005, a temperature of 70.1 degrees was recorded. It was simply physically impossible to walk on it barefoot. And being in the sun in this weather is not very pleasant. It wasn't much better in the shade - about 60 degrees.
But this weather has a big advantage. In this weather, it is quite possible to do without a kitchen: heat the water to 60-65 degrees to brew green tea, fry eggs on the hood of the car, make hot sandwiches with melted cheese. But in this weather, it’s unlikely that anyone will want hot tea and sizzling scrambled eggs. Here, ice cream and water with ice are more likely to do.
Water
But even such high temperatures may seem like only a temporary inconvenience compared to how hot the water can become. And now we are not talking about a gentle warm sea or a small warm river. We will tell you about their older brothers – geysers.
These underground springs burst into the air, carrying the heat of the deep layers. As a result, even in cold countries and during cold seasons, their temperatures can reach impressive temperatures. There are many such sources in Iceland, where enterprising locals decided to use them to heat cities.
The main thing is not to get too close to him
Some offer healing (and most importantly, warm) baths, but some are not recommended to be approached close to. For example, the Deildartunguhver spring is near its boiling point even in winter. The water temperature in it is 97 degrees. A person will simply cook in it, but some bacteria feel quite comfortable.
Fire
Of course, neither air nor water can compare in temperature with the third element - fire. And there is plenty of it on earth too.
Volcanoes are one of the the most beautiful phenomena nature. And one of the most terrible ones too. The basis of the eruption is lava - molten to a liquid state rocks. In fact, lava is rocks that are liquid from heat.
The temperature of lava can vary depending on composition, pressure, type of volcanoes and other parameters. The hottest in the world are Hawaiian, where lava can reach a temperature of 1200 degrees. For comparison, the flame obtained from combustion has approximately the same temperature natural gas.
Earth
But, of course, the highest temperature was recorded not on the surface of the Earth, but in its very center. Monstrous pressure causes a sharp rise in temperature. Not only stones are melted here, but also metals. Actually, from liquid metal and consists of the central part of our planet. The conditions there are so different from what we are used to that in their own way physical properties This metal is more like water.
But if you still overcome this resistance and descend even deeper, you can stumble upon something dense - the solid metallic central part of the planet. It is this core that has the maximum possible temperature at 6000 degrees Celsius. There was nothing hotter than this on the planet.
Plasma
It wasn't until a man came along. He was not satisfied with the maximum temperatures for normal elements, and he decided to create something even hotter - plasma. In fact, plasma is the fourth state of aggregation any substance heated above gaseous state. Perhaps the only example is a lightning strike.
But if plasma occurs in nature, then people managed to create something even hotter - quark-gluon plasma. In the Universe it existed only a few moments after Big Bang, man managed to recreate it in the Large Hadron Collider. True, for the same fractions of seconds, but even they were enough to record the highest temperature possible - 10 trillion degrees.
In such heat, not only do stones or metal melt, but molecules, atoms and even their nuclei melt into a uniform broth of basic elementary particles– quarks and gluons.
So far, this is the absolute recorded maximum not only for our planet, but also for the Universe. Of course, unless somewhere there lives its own civilization, which also studies the physics of elementary particles. Then, perhaps, they managed to conquer or even surpass this milestone. Indeed, under the existing laws of physics, there can only be an absolute minimum temperature (-273 Celsius, when interatomic processes freeze), but not a maximum.
Temperature may vary. And high degrees occur not only in some place on Earth, but also in a specific person or in a specific device.
Experts say that the highest average annual temperature, which was recorded for six years (from 1960 to 1966), was registered in Ethiopian Dallol. Then thermometers showed plus 34.4 degrees Celsius. The volcanic crater Dallol, however, is famous for the fact that it is practically all year round the air temperature remains at the same level, approximately plus 34 degrees. The crater is located 48 meters below the sea level, its diameter reaches almost one and a half meters. This place has another name - “the gates of hell.” It is quite difficult to stay here for a long time. However, there are indigenous people here. The local Tribes people are distinguished by their taciturnity and aggressiveness.
But in the American Death Valley, for 43 days in a row (this is from July 6 to August 17, 1917), the air warmed up to plus 48.9 degrees Celsius.
Death Valley
In Western Australia, namely in Marble Bar, the average temperature was higher than plus 32.2 degrees Celsius. And this lasted exactly 162 days in a row from October 30, 1923 until April 8, 1924. Wherein, Maximum temperature was plus 48.9 degrees Celsius.
The highest temperature on Earth, plus 58 degrees (and this is in the shade!) was recorded in the Libyan place of Al-Aziziya. It is located at an altitude of 11 meters at sea level. The record was recorded on September 13, 1922. On the same day in Saudi Arabia thermometers showed plus 58.4 degrees. The difference in readings is not so significant; it can be compared with the measurement error. Therefore, two places are considered the hottest in the world, that is, they have the highest temperatures.
Lunch without fire
Already in the new century, records continued. In the Libyan desert of Dashti Lut in 2005, experts noted that thermometers showed plus 70 degrees Celsius. To date, this is the highest temperature that has been recorded in the natural environment.
In such weather, a person can safely cook food without using fire. At plus 70, objects heat up under the sun so much that, for example, a car hood turns into a heated frying pan. And you can easily cook yourself first-class scrambled eggs with it. However, in such heat it is impossible to walk barefoot on the ground. In the shade the air warms up to plus 60 degrees.
And even despite such sultry weather, streams of tourists constantly flock to the Dashti-Lut desert. This place, in addition to its record temperature, famous for its high dunes. They can reach half a kilometer in height.
Hot stars
It turns out that the stars also glow with heat. The temperature of the substance in their depths is measured in millions of Kelvin. And the energy of almost all luminaries is released after thermonuclear reactions converting hydrogen into helium. The process occurs in internal regions at high temperatures. In the depths of stars, temperatures can reach 10-12 million degrees Kelvin.
Artificial temperature
Well, the highest temperature that man could create is about 10 trillion degrees Kelvin. For comparison, such heat was supposed to exist during the creation of the Universe. A record degree was obtained in 2010 at the Large Hadron Collider during the collision of lead ions, which were accelerated to near-light speeds.
However, this is not the only record artificial temperature in the world. American physicists have managed to achieve enormous temperatures in laboratory conditions since the creation of the Universe. This was done by colliding gold ions at Brookhaven National Laboratory. During the experiment, gold ions collided in a collider. Scientists have obtained a quark-gluon plasma (after the Big Bang, the Universe consisted of a similar quark-gluon plasma for a few microseconds) with a temperature of approximately 4 trillion degrees Celsius. She only lasted a few milliseconds. But this time was enough to obtain data for research for several years.
For comparison, the temperature of the Sun's core is 50 million degrees, and that of a neutron star that formed after a type 2 supernova explosion is about 100 billion degrees Celsius. It turns out that the resulting substance has a temperature tens of thousands of times higher.
These studies, scientists say, make it possible to understand the processes that took place at the early stage of space development. And as a result, physicists plan to get closer to understanding why matter emerged from a homogeneous primordial mass.
Theoretically, the highest temperature is the Planck temperature. Temperatures above this simply cannot exist, since everything will be converted into energy. The record Planck temperature is approximately 1.41679(11)×1032 K (this is approximately 142 nonillion Kelvin).
The Large Hadron Collider
Previously, the highest temperature in the world was considered to be 520 million degrees Celsius. This is 30 times higher than the temperature at the center of the Sun. This figure was obtained on May 27, 1994 at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the Tokamak experimental reactor.
Man and cat...
The highest temperature that has been recorded in a person is 46.5 degrees Celsius. Theoretically, such heat is fatal. However, a 52-year-old man with such a thermometer reading was cured. This was done by doctors at the American Grady Memorial Hospital, in the state of Georgia. The record was recorded in the summer of 1980 and was included in the Guinness Book of Records. After a 24-day course of treatment, the man was discharged from the hospital. Theoretically, a temperature of 42ºС - 43ºС is lethal for humans, since it is at this temperature that proteins coagulate and metabolism in brain tissue is disrupted.
In animals normal temperature body exceeds the usual human 36.6 degrees. And among the record holders for thermometer readings is chicken. Her body temperature can rise to 42 degrees. Much higher temperature lizard body. In the sun it is 50-60 degrees. And this despite the fact that experts classify lizards as cold-blooded. Well, the most warm-blooded are birds. For their body, the norm is 42 degrees. The need for high temperature is explained quite simply - flight requires birds to have a high metabolic efficiency.
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Recently, scientists working in Antarctica recorded a temperature record - the lowest temperature for the entire period of meteorological observations.
The new record was minus 91.2 degrees. The previous record stood for thirty years. In 1983, meteorologists recorded a temperature of minus 89.2 degrees in Antarctica. It should be noted that the 1983 record was recorded by Soviet researchers in Antarctica at the Vostok station.
The latest record set by nature was certified by Japanese polar explorers at the Fuji Dome station and was confirmed by satellite data. Antarctica fully lives up to the name “Pole of Cold” - the coldest part of the Earth.
The North Pole in this regard is significantly inferior to the South Pole; there the temperature minimum reached only about minus 70 degrees.
Fact temperature record somewhat out of line with the theory of global warming of the earth. While there is abnormal heat in the northern hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere may suffer from abnormal cold weather. Scientists do not deny this fact.
The temperature record also thwarted the plans of one of the heirs to the British crown, Prince Harry, to reach the South Pole on foot. Because of weather conditions the prince and his companions were forced to cancel the event. The prince was preparing for the trip in a freezer with a temperature of minus 35 degrees, but here it was minus ninety. They didn’t take risks with someone of royal blood.
In recent years, the climate has changed a lot, and not only in the direction of warming. Such changes occur especially noticeably in zones of sharply continental climate. Here the summers are impossibly hot, the winters are very frosty. Let's look for answers to the questions: where is the most low temperature on the ground? Where is it coldest?
Climate of the Northern Hemisphere in the 19th century
It would seem that the coldest should be Northern and South pole, as the farthest from the equator. In reality, things are not so simple.
There are several in the Northern Hemisphere settlements, which can rightfully be called “poles of cold”. All of them are located in Russia. And this is not surprising, since it owns a huge part of the northern territories.
Long ago, in the 19th century, in one of these villages (Verkhoyansk) a critical temperature was recorded - 63.2 degrees below zero. It is located in the northeast direction from Yakutsk, 650 kilometers from it. In the same area in January 1885, an even greater minus temperature was recorded - 67.8 degrees. At that time, this was the lowest temperature on Earth.
Verkhoyansk at that time was a place of exile for political prisoners. The measurements were carried out, as expected, at an equipped weather station by one of the political exiles, I. A. Khudyakov. In this regard, in Verkhoyansk there is a monument called “Pole of Cold”. There is also an interesting local history museum called Ulus with the same name.
Frosts of the 20th century, modernity
In the middle of the 20th century, temperature measurements were made in Oymyakon, a village located just south (4 degrees) of Verkhoyansk. This was done by S.V. Obruchev (son of the author of the works “Sannikov’s Land” and “Plutonium”). According to his data, it turned out that a minus mark of 71.2 degrees is possible here. And this was the lowest temperature on Earth at that time.
The Oymyakon depression is located higher in level than the Verkhoyansk depression. In addition, it is surrounded by mountains, trapping frosty and dry air in the depression. However, such a temperature has not been observed in practice. And yet, Oymyakon became famous as the frostiest place.
Oymyakon. The fight for the title of “Pole of Cold”
In fact, Obruchev’s calculations were made near another village - Tomtor, located 30 kilometers from Oymyakon. Since almost all geographical objects of this region (plateaus, depressions, etc.) are called Oymyakon, that’s why Oymyakon became so famous.
In Tomtor itself, already in February 1933, the weather station recorded a temperature mark of minus 67.7 degrees. That is, until the record for the lowest temperature on Earth (Verkhoyansk, 1885) is broken with a lag of 0.1 degrees. The residents of Tomtor themselves believe that the weather station was built later, when climate warming began to occur. Otherwise, most likely, they would have broken the record long ago.
Based on average temperatures over 15 years, in Verkhoyansk the minimum temperature was only minus 57, and in Tomtor it was minus 60.0 degrees. And according to the absolute minimums for the same period of time, the temperatures are as follows: Verkhoyansk - 61.1, and Tomtor - 64.6 degrees. It turns out that it is colder in Tomtor than in Verkhoyansk.
The Oymyakon weather station, due to record data, is noted in the Guinness Book. But the Yakut authorities changed everything. They decided and recognized Verkhoyansk as the “pole of cold”. Perhaps in order to attract more tourists.
Vostok station. Lowest temperature on Earth
The achievements of the above-mentioned Verkhoyansk and Tomtor pale in comparison to the temperature values of the Vostok station, located in East Antarctica. This is the real “Pole of Cold”.
This station is located at an altitude of almost 3.5 kilometers above sea level, on the ice dome itself. The lowest temperature was recorded there - minus 89.2 degrees. It is amazing! Even in summer, the temperature here stays between 20-40 degrees below zero! It’s worth feeling and seeing it to understand what real cold means.
East Antarctica has the coldest temperatures on Earth.
Dashti Lut, Libyan desert
The hottest air on Earth was recorded in 2005 in Libya in the Dashti Lut desert. The thermometer showed plus 70 degrees Celsius.
At this temperature, you can cook food without using fire, since the surfaces of objects become so hot in the Sun that you can safely fry eggs on them. And it is impossible to walk barefoot on the ground. The air even in the shade warms up to 60 degrees.
There is another desert in Libya - Al Azizia. In September 1922, a positive temperature of 57.8 degrees was noticed on it.
There is Death Valley in the USA. The most hot temperature at around 56.7 degrees. And the average summer temperature here is +47 degrees.
Universe. The coldest place
The lowest temperature in the Universe is in the Boomerang Nebula. It is believed that this is the coldest place in the entire Universe. Its temperature is minus 272 °C. This is despite the fact that minus 273°C is taken as the lowest temperature - the lowest accepted limit of all temperatures.
Where does this temperature come from? What's happening?
In the very center of this nebula is located dying star, which for 1,500 years has been emitting gases in the form of wind, moving at an unimaginably high speed of 500,000 kilometers per hour. The gas coming out of the nebula is cooled in the same way as the air that people exhale. The temperature of the gas itself is two degrees less than the temperature of the place in which it then expands. Due to rapid expansion, it cooled to 272 Celsius.
This amazing nebula got its name due to its similarity in appearance with a boomerang, although it is believed that it looks more like a butterfly. This is due to the fact that Australian scientists who discovered this place in 1980 did not have such powerful telescopes as they have now, and saw only isolated fragments of the nebula. The modern Hubble telescope took the most accurate picture.
Thus, the places on Earth with the highest and lowest temperatures are, respectively, the Libyan Dashti Lut Desert and East Antarctica. And there is no limit to such natural phenomena.
