Dome Argus has a surface elevation of 4,093 m. It is the highest place in East Antarctica. It is also one of the least-known places on the globe. An automatic weather station provides data from this remote site.

Location: 80°22′ S 77°22′ E.

Dome Argus lies near one end of a ridge about 60 km long and 10 km wide. The ice there is more than 3,000 m thick, overlaying the subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains.

The coldest place on Earth?

The world’s lowest temperature ever recorded was −89.2 °C in July 1983, at the Russian station Vostok, inland of Australia’s Casey station. Dome Argus is nearly 600 m higher in elevation than Vostok. This means there is a good chance that the automatic weather station at Dome Argus could record the world’s lowest surface temperature. The coldest temperature reached to date was −82.5 °C in July 2005.

Dome A daily minimum temperature, showing a lowest minimum over the past 30 days of −62.96°C on Friday, 15 March 2024.

Please note: We are aware that the data presented here is, on occasion, fluctuating beyond normal limits. This is due to a technical problem that is currently beyond our control.

Automatic weather station (AWS)

The automatic weather station at Dome Argus was set up as part of an Australian–Chinese collaboration in January 2005. No ground-based scientific investigation had been made at this site before the arrival of the Chinese over-snow traverse team.

The weather station measures:

  • Wind speed
  • Air temperature – with sensors mounted on mast arms at 1 m, 2 m and 4 m above the snow surface
  • Snow temperature at 0.1 m, 1 m, 3 m and 10 m depth
  • Atmospheric pressure
  • Wind direction
  • Incoming solar radiation
  • Relative humidity
  • Snow-fall rate.
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