What is the hottest place on Earth?Two deserts – geographically distant but similar to each other – hold the record for the highest temperature ever recorded on the planet’s soil.
In the photo the Dasht-e Lut desert (Iran) which, together with the Sonoran desert (USA), holds the record for the highest soil temperature ever recorded on the planet.
What is the hottest place on Earth? If you answered Death Valley , we will have to contradict you: the US Death Valley holds the record for the hottest place in the world with its 56.7 ° C, but only as regards the air . A new study has revealed that two deserts are awarded the primacy (on an equal footing) of places with the highest temperature ever recorded on the ground: that of Dasht-e Lut, in Iran, and that of Sonora, on the border between the United States. and Mexico, where 80.8 ° C was reached .
HELLISH LANDSCAPES. In both cases, the location makes these places the perfect abode of Lucifer. The Dasht-e Lut lies between two mountain ranges, where the warm air is captured and remains on the dunes, warming in particular at the parts covered with black volcanic rock. A 2011 study had already identified Dasht-e Lut as the hottest place in the world, but most modern NASA satellites have revised their temperature estimates to as much as 10 ° C.
The image illustrates the phenomenon of rain shadow, which occurs when the mountains block the passage of the cloud systems that cause precipitation, preventing them from occurring on the opposite side. © CC Fabiocarboni
The Sonoran desert is also the ideal place for a record heat: located in a sort of basin between the mountains, this desert is also located in an area affected by the phenomenon of rain shadow (in the image above the explanation), which makes it even more difficult for the soil to cool down.
In addition to the higher temperatures, the satellites have also identified the lowest temperatures on Earth, recorded in Antarctica. If the place is not surprising, what is surprising to know that even in this case, the previous estimates were at fault as much as 20 ° C: the coldest point of the planet would have spiraled to -110.9 ° C .
DUE TO? It is not yet clear how much climate change contributes to these extreme temperatures: it is certain that the peaks of heat and cold have all been recorded in recent years, especially during La Niña, a climatic phenomenon that is influenced by global warming. “We do not yet know how polluting emissions affect the temperature of the soil”, specify the authors, who hope that “future research will clarify not only how these extreme temperatures have changed in the past, but above all how they will affect our planet in the future”.
