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It would make Britain's recent cold weather seem like
a heatwave.
Scientists have discovered the coldest place on Earth - where the air
temperature plummets to below -91C.
The newly-found spot - situated along an Antarctic mountain ridge -
could freeze a human's eyes, nose and lungs within minutes.
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This is because its temperature is almost 13 degrees below the point at
which CO2 transforms from a gas into dry ice (-78.5C).
The record-breaking discovery was made by researchers from America's
National Snow and Ice Data Centre, according to The Sunday Times.
They used satellites and other techniques to measure temperatures in
Antarctica.
The -91.2C spot - one of numerous cold places recorded on the mountain
ridge - is believed to have been found at heights of more than 12,400ft
on a mountain called Dome Fuji.
Astonishingly, it is even chillier than Russia's Vostok research
station, where the world's previous coldest air temperature (-89.2C) was
recorded during the Antarctic winter of 1983.
And researchers say there are probably even colder spots - with the
satellite only averaging the temperature over a square kilometre.
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'It is likely that record cold sites identified by the data have small
areas within them that are significantly colder than the grid cell
mean,' said a data centre researcher in a published summary of the
findings.
He added that the coldest temperatures had been recorded during clear,
dry periods - as opposed to on windy or snowy days.
Full details of the scientists' discovery will be revealed at the
American Geophycial Union's annual meeting this week.
Earlier this year, the Russian village of Oymyakon was revealed to be
the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world - with the
average temperature for January standing at -50C.
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Known as the 'Pole of Cold', the coldest ever temperature recorded in
Oymyakon was -71.2C.
The village, which is home to around 500 people, was, in the 1920s and
1930s, a stopover for reindeer herders who would water their flocks from
the thermal spring.
A single shop provides the town's bare necessities - with he locals
working as reindeer-breeders, hunters and ice-fisherman.
In comparison, the coldest temperature Britain has ever seen is -27.2C,
which was recorded in 1995 at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands.
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