The −89.2 °C reading at Vostok Station on 21 July 1983 remains the lowest temperature ever recorded at ground level on Earth.
Key Facts
- Record temperature
- −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K)
- Date recorded
- 21 July 1983
- Station
- Soviet Vostok Station, Antarctica
- Satellite surface low (2010)
- −92 °C at ridge between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji
- Later near-surface air estimate
- approximately −94 °C in high Antarctic locations
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Antarctica's polar plateau, extreme elevation, prolonged polar night, and dry air create conditions that allow surface temperatures to plunge far below those found anywhere else on Earth. Vostok Station, situated at about 3,488 m elevation in East Antarctica, is particularly exposed to these factors, making it one of the coldest places on the planet.
On 21 July 1983, ground-based thermometers at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica recorded an air temperature of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). This measurement was taken by conventional meteorological instruments monitoring the air above the ice surface, and it constitutes the lowest temperature ever directly recorded at ground level on Earth.
The 1983 Vostok record became the globally recognised benchmark for Earth's minimum natural temperature. Subsequent satellite observations in 2010 suggested even colder ice-surface temperatures nearby, and later research estimated near-surface air minima of around −94 °C in parts of high Antarctica, though these values are not directly comparable to the 1983 ground measurement and have not supplanted it as the official record.