Extremes on Earth

This article describes extreme locations on Earth. Entries listed in bold are Earth-wide extremes.

Further information: World record, Lists of extreme points, and Extreme points of Earth

Extreme global temperatures
2015 – Warmest global year on record (since 1880) – Colors indicate temperature anomalies (NASA/NOAA; 20 January 2016).[1]

Extreme elevations and air temperatures per continent
Further information: Lists of highest points, List of elevation extremes by region, and List of weather records
Continent Elevation (height above/below sea level)A Air Temperature (recorded)[2]B
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Africa5,893 m (19,334 feet)
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania[3]
−155 m (−509 feet)
Lake Assal, Djibouti[4]		55 °C (131 °F)
Kebili, French Tunisia
7 July 1931C		−23.9 °C (−11.0 °F)
Ifrane, French Morocco
11 February 1935
Antarctica4,892 m (16,050 feet)
Vinson Massif[5]
−50 m (−164 feet)[6]
Deep Lake, Vestfold Hills
(compare the deepest ice section below)		20.75 °C (69.35 °F)
Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station
9 February 2020		−89.2 °C (−128.6 °F)
Vostok Station
21 July 1983
Asia8,848 m (29,029 feet)
Mount Everest, China-Nepal Border [7]
−424 m (−1,391 feet)
Dead Sea, Israel-Jordan-Palestine[8]		54 °C (129 °F)
Tirat Zvi, Israel (then in the British Mandate of Palestine)
21 June 1942		−67.7 °C (−89.9 °F) Measured
Oymyakon, Siberia, Soviet Union
6 February 1933[9][10]
54 °C (129 °F)
Ahvaz Airport, Iran
29 June 2017[11]		 −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F) Extrapolated
Oymyakon, Siberia, Soviet Union
26 January 1926[12]
Europe5,642 m (18,510 feet)
Mount Elbrus, Russian Federation[13]
−28 m (−92 feet)
Caspian Sea shore, Russian Federation[14]		48.0 °C (118.4 °F)
Athens, Greece
(and Elefsina, Greece)
10 July 1977 E		−58.1 °C (−72.6 °F)
Ust-Shchuger, Soviet Union
31 December 1978
North America6,190.5 m (20,310 feet)
Denali (Mount McKinley), Alaska, United States[15]
−85 m (−279 feet)
Badwater Basin, California, United States[16]		56.7 °C (134 °F)
Greenland Ranch (Furnace Creek), California, United States
10 July 1913C		−66.1 °C (−87.0 °F)
North Ice, Greenland
9 January 1954F
Oceania4,884 m (16,024 feet)
Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid), Indonesia
(compare Mount Wilhelm, Mount Cook and Mount Kosciuszko)[17]
−15 m (−49 feet)
Lake Eyre, South Australia, Australia[18]		50.7 °C (123.3 °F)
Oodnadatta, South Australia, Australia
2 January 1960G		−25.6 °C (−14.1 °F)
Ranfurly, Otago, New Zealand
17 July 1903
South America6,962 m (22,841 feet)
Aconcagua, Mendoza, Argentina[19]
−105 m (−344 feet)
Laguna del Carbón, Argentina[20]		48.9 °C (120.0 °F)
Rivadavia, Salta Province, Argentina
11 December 1905		−32.8 °C (−27.0 °F)
Sarmiento, Chubut Province, Argentina
1 June 1907
A.^ Height above sea level is the usual choice of definition for elevation. The point farthest away from the centre of the Earth, however, is Chimborazo in Ecuador (6,267 m (20,561 feet)). This is due to the Earth's oblate spheroid shape, with points near the Equator being farther out from the centre than those at the poles.
B.^ All temperatures from the World Meteorological Organization unless noted.
C.^ The former record of 57.7 °C (135.9 °F) recorded at Al 'Aziziyah, Libya on 13 September 1922 was ruled no longer valid by the WMO due to mistakes made in the recording process.[21] The 1913 reading is, however, itself controversial, and a measurement of 54.0 °C (129.2 °F) at Furnace Creek on 30 June 2013 is undisputed, especially since the same or almost the same temperature has been recorded several times in the 21st century in the same and other places.
E.^ Temperatures greater than 50 °C (122 °F) in Spain and Portugal were recorded in 1881, but the standard with which they were measured and the accuracy of the thermometers used are unknown; therefore, they are not considered official. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that a set of Spanish stations may have hit 48.0 °C (118.4 °F) during the 2003 heat wave.[22]
F.^ Greenland is considered by the World Meteorological Organization to be part of WMO region 6 (Europe).[23][24]
G.^ A temperature of 53.1 °C (127.6 °F) was recorded in Cloncurry, Queensland on 16 January 1889 under non-standard exposure conditions and is therefore not considered official.[25]

Coldest and hottest inhabited places on Earth
Hottest inhabited placeDallol, Ethiopia (Amharic: ዳሎል), whose annual mean temperature was recorded from 1960 to 1966 as 34.4 °C (93.9 °F).[26] The average daily maximum temperature during the same period was 41.1 °C (106.0 °F).[27]
Coldest inhabited placeOymyakon (Russian: Оймяко́н), a rural locality (selo) in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, the Russian Federation, has the coldest monthly mean, with −46.4 °C (−51.5 °F) the average temperature in January, the coldest month. Eureka, Nunavut, Canada has the lowest annual mean temperature at −19.7 °C (−3.5 °F).[28]
The South Pole and some other places in Antarctica are colder and are populated year-round, but almost everyone stays less than a year and could be considered visitors, not inhabitants.

Extreme ground temperatures

Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by 30 to 50 °C.[29] A ground temperature of 84 °C (183.2 °F) has been recorded in Port Sudan, Sudan.[30] A ground temperature of 93.9 °C (201 °F) was recorded in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California, United States on 15 July 1972; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded.[31] 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.[32]

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.[29]

Satellite measurements of the surface temperature of Antarctica, taken between 1982 and 2013, found a coldest temperature of −93.2 °C (−136 °F) on 10 August 2010, at 81.8°S 59.3°E / -81.8; 59.3. Although this is not comparable to an air temperature, it is believed that the air temperature at this location would have been lower than the official record lowest air temperature of −89.2 °C.[33][34]

Greatest vertical drop
Greatest purely vertical drop
1,250 m (4,101 ft)
Mount Thor, Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada (summit elevation 1,675 m (5,495 ft))[35][36]
Greatest nearly vertical drop
1,340 m (4,396 ft)
Trango Towers, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan (summit elevation 6,286 m (20,623 ft))

Subterranean
Further information: Mining § Records, and List of deepest caves
Deepest mine below ground level4,000 m (13,123 ft)
Mponeng Gold Mine, Gauteng Province, South Africa
Deepest mine below sea level2,733 m (8,967 ft) below sea level
Kidd Mine, Ontario, Canada
Deepest open-pit mine below ground level1,200 m (3,937 ft)
Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah, United States
Deepest open-pit mine below sea level293 m (961 ft) below sea level
Tagebau Hambach, Germany
Deepest cave (measured from the entrance)2,204 m (7,231 ft)
Veryovkina, Arabika Massif, Abkhazia, Georgia [37]
Deepest pitch (single vertical drop)1,026 m (3,366 ft)
Tian Xing Cave, China[38]
Deepest borehole12,261 m (40,226 ft)
Kola Superdeep Borehole, Russia[39]

Greatest oceanic depths
Atlantic Ocean8,376 m (27,480 ft)[40]
Milwaukee Deep (also known as Brownson Deep), Puerto Rico Trench
Arctic Ocean5,550 m (18,209 ft)[41]
Molloy Deep, Fram Strait
Indian Ocean7,192 m (23,596 ft)[42]
Sunda Trench
Mediterranean Sea5,267 m (17,280 ft)
Calypso Deep, Hellenic Trench
Pacific Ocean10,928 m (35,853 ft)[43]
Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench[44]
Southern Ocean7,433.6 m (24,388 ft)[45]
South Sandwich Trench (southernmost portion, at 60°28.46′S 025°32.32′W)

Deepest ice

Ice sheets on land, but having the base below sea level. Places under ice are not considered to be on land.

Bentley Subglacial Trench−2,555 m (−8,383 ft)Antarctica
Trough beneath Jakobshavn Isbræ−1,512 m (−4,961 ft)[46]Greenland, Denmark

Northern and southernmost points of land on Earth
See also: Northernmost settlements and Southernmost settlements
Northernmost point on landKaffeklubben Island, east of Greenland (83°40′N 29°50′W)
Various shifting gravel bars lie further north, the most famous being Oodaaq
Southernmost point on landThe geographic South Pole
Southernmost continental point of land outside AntarcticaCape Froward (Spanish: Cabo Froward) (53°56′00″S 071°20′00″W), Magallanes Region, Chile

The Gould Coast (Coordinates: 84°30′S 150°0′W)[47] is the southernmost point of ocean while the southernmost open sea is nearby Bay of Whales at 78°30'S, at the edge of Ross Ice Shelf.[48]

See also

References

[49] [50]

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