The
Arctic islands are warming faster than almost anywhere on Earth,
highlighting risks in other parts of the Arctic from Alaska to
Siberia, a Norwegian report said last year.
"A 41-year-old record has been broken in Longyearbyen," the
Meteorological Institute said on Twitter.
Between 1700 and 1800 CET (1500-1600 GMT), the temperature
measured 21.7 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees above the previous
record from 1979, it added.
Home to more than 2,000 people, Longyearbyen, the main
settlement in Svalbard, is about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles)
from the North Pole.
The Norwegian Centre for Climate Studies said last February
average temperatures in Svalbard had leapt between three and
five degrees Celsius (5.4-9.0 Fahrenheit) since the early 1970s
and could rise by a total of 10C (18F) by 2100, if world
greenhouse gas emissions keep climbing.
Rising temperatures would thaw the frozen ground underpinning
many buildings, roads and airports and could cause more
avalanches and landslides, it added.
Two people died in 2015 when an avalanche destroyed 10 houses in
Longyearbyen.
A warming climate also threatens Arctic wildlife such as polar
bears and seals which depend on the sea ice cover.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Mark POtter)
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