audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Researchers record the hottest ever reading on Earth's coldest continent where temperatures usually range between 14F and -76F. Temperatures in Antarctica reached an unprecedented 63.5F on March 24, 2015, the U.N. weather agency has announced, March 2017. Over the past 50 years, the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the most rapidly warming parts of the planet, with its glaciers in accelerated retreat in the last 12 years. Air temperature increases of 3 degrees in the Antarctic Peninsula, which is 5 times the mean rate of global warming as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC. This change can also be noted in the Southern Ocean which is warming more rapidly than the global ocean as a whole. Antarctica's immense ice sheet is up to 4.8km thick and contains 90% of the world's fresh water, enough to raise sea level by around 60 meters were it all to melt. The warming of the Peninsula has reshaped the physical and living environment of the region. The distribution of penguin colonies has changed as the sea ice conditions alter and on land has resulted in increased colonization by plants. A long-term decline in the abundance of Antarctic krill may be associated with reduced sea ice. Many glaciers have retreated and ice shelves that formerly fringed the Peninsula have retreated in recent years, some have collapsed completely. Antarctic species are dramatically impacted, AdŽlie penguin populations have been declining in recent years due to reductions in krill populations. Emperor penguins are highly vulnerable and are predicted to suffer as the world's average temperature increases. Climate change in Antarctica will thus have dramatic effects both globally and locally.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 18, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Icicles hang from an iceberg floating in Crystal Sound along the Antarctic Peninsula.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Tourists stand on a deck watching Crabeater seals as the Russian research vessel Akademik Ioffe navigates around ice floes in Crystal Sound.
© Ann Inger Johansson/via ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - A crabeater seal lies on an ice floe as snow falls in Crystal Sound.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Lallemand Fjord, Antarctica - Slush, ice and sea water show in a crack in the fast ice covering Lallemand Fjord.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 23, 2017 - Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - The tail of a Humpback whale is seen as it dives in Wilhelmina Bay.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 20, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Adelie penguins walk, and seals rest, on sea ice that extends between icebergs floating in Crystal Sound along the Antarctic Peninsula.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Icebergs and bergy bits float in Crystal Sound along the Antarctic Peninsula as the sun sets.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 25, 2017 - Penguin Island, Antarctica - Two young male Antarctic fur seals fight on Penguin Island, South Shetland Islands.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 25, 2017 - Penguin Island, Antarctica - An Adelie penguin fights off a South Polar skua on Penguin Island, South Shetland Islands, January 25, 2017. Skuas eat penguin eggs and chicks as well as fish and krill.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 22, 2017 - Orne Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Tourists hike Orne Island in Antarctica. The Russian research vessel Akademik Ioffe is seen in the distance.
© Ann Inger Johansson/via ZUMA Wire

Jan 22, 2017 - Orne Island, Antarctica - Chinstrap penguins and their chicks sit in a rookery on Orne Island in Antarctica.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - A tabular iceberg floats in Crystal Sound along the Antarctic Peninsula.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Lallemand Fjord, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Chinstrap penguins sit in a rookery on Half Moon Island among the South Shetland Islands.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 20, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - A zodiac pulls kayaks as it takes tourists to go kayaking in Crystal Sound.
© Ann Inger Johansson/via ZUMA Wire

Jan 20, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - Icicles hang from an iceberg floating in Crystal Sound along the Antarctic Peninsula.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 21, 2017 - Neko Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - A gentoo penguin keeps its two chicks warm sitting on top of them in their nest which is mostly made of stones, at Neko Harbor. A gentoo penguin in the background is walking off with a rock stolen from a nest. It requires less energy to steal a rock than it does to go and find one. The rocks are used to elevate the eggs off the surface to keep them away from melting snow that might pool.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 19, 2017 - Lallemand Fjord, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - A crack in the fast ice covering Lallemand Fjord show a large section of ice breaking away.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Jan 20, 2017 - Crystal Sound, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica - An Adelie penguin is about to jump off a bergy bit, a piece of ice smaller than an iceberg, in Crystal Sound along the Antarctic Peninsula.
© Ann Inger Johansson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire