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Scientists have discovered the coldest place on Earth — Antarctica, where temperatures fall below -91 degrees Celsius. It is located on the Antarctic mountain range.
The discovery was made by American researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center using satellites and other methods for measuring temperatures in Antarctica.
The place where the temperature reaches -91.2 degrees Celsius is located in the area of Mount Fuji Dome, which is 3.7 km high.
At this temperature, a person's eyes, nose and lungs freeze in minutes. This is because temperatures are 13 degrees below the point (-78.5 degrees Celsius) at which carbon dioxide is converted from gas to dry ice.
The coldest temperature on Earth
So far, the record for the lowest air temperature on Earth, -89.2 degrees Celsius, was recorded in the winter of 1983 at the Vostok research station, also in Antarctica.
Read also: The coldest places on the planet
However, researchers say that there are probably even colder places, as satellites average temperatures per square kilometer. They also stressed that the lowest temperatures were recorded during clear dry periods.
The Fuji Dome or Valkyrie Dome in Antarctica is the second highest peak and one of the coldest places on Earth on average. The temperature here hardly ever rises above -30 degrees Celsius even in summer.
The coldest places
However, Vyacheslav Martyanov, the head of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, says that it is too early to talk about a temperature record based on satellite data. AVHRR and MODIS satellite instruments measure so-called “brightness temperature”, which does not fully correlate with true meteorological conditions, and must be confirmed by observations at drier.
In addition, the Russian scientist believes that the 30-year record of the lowest temperature can be broken by the Kunlun station, discovered by Chinese scientists in 2009.
It is located in Antarctica's highest region, the “Argus Dome”. In winter, this place remains uninhabited, but if there was a weather station, it is possible that the temperature there was lower than at the Vostok station.
The station was opened on February 2, 2009 after a Chinese Antarctic expedition traveled 1,200 km from sea to land, reaching the most inaccessible area, located at an altitude of 4,093 m above sea level. This is 600 m higher than the Vostok station, and scientists believe that the temperature here can drop to -102 degrees Celsius.
Pole of cold
Earlier this year, the Russian village of Oymyakon became the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth, where the average temperature in January reaches -50 degrees Celsius.
The lowest temperature at this so-called “cold pole” reached -71.2 degrees Celsius. Just over 500 people live in Oymyakon.