![]() ![]() This is increasingly more important as the atmosphere warms in response to anthropogenic emissions. A global understanding of extreme hot and cold LSTs and diurnal temperature ranges (DTRs, daily maximum LST minus daily minimum LST) across different environments and biomes could shed light on the type of extremes different ecosystems are faced with. Locations of the hottest and coldest places on Earth’s have always been of interest to a broad range of scientists including meteorologists, ecologists, and biologists. 2015 Zhou and Wang 2016), and the Arctic region is warming at a rate more than twice the global mean ( Cohen et al. Warming rates in arid areas are higher than the global average ( Zhou et al. However, the most extreme hot and cold LSTs usually occur in deserts and polar regions, respectively. Studies of extreme hot land surface temperatures (LSTs), also known as skin temperature, have mainly focused on the city or subcity scale where the urban heat island is a major hazard ( Benz et al. 2013) and relatively little attention has been paid to extreme high and low temperatures across the Earth’s skin ( Azarderakhsh, et al. Most previous studies on temperature variability have focused on extreme air temperatures (e.g., heatwaves) ( Schwartz 2005 Oudin Åström et al. Between 19, over 2,000 extreme events including heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and winter storms have occurred, killing over 180,000 people and leading to nearly $700 billion in damage (Munich RE 2019). ![]() Ecoregions worldwide are showing signs of thermal stress, leading to changes in their structure, composition, functioning, and significant ecological pressure ( Hughes et al. While the Earth has warmed by around 1☌ on average above the preindustrial level, much higher record hot extremes have been observed around the world in the past decades ( IPCC 2018). Keywords: Climate change Climate variability Surface temperature Diurnal effects ![]() This global exploration of extreme LST and DTR across different biomes sheds light on the type of extremes different ecosystems are faced with. Biomes worldwide are faced with different levels of temperature extremes and DTR: we observe the highest zonal average maximum LST of 61.1° ± 5.3☌ in the deserts and xeric shrublands the lowest zonal average minimum LST of −66.6° ± 14.8☌ in the tundra and the highest zonal average maximum DTR of 43.5° ± 9.9☌ in the montane grasslands and shrublands. We see strong latitudinal patterns in hot and cold extremes as well as DTR. The world’s maximum DTR of 81.8☌ is observed in a desert environment in China. The coldest place on Earth is Antarctica with the record low temperature of −110.9☌. ![]() We show that the world’s highest LST of 80.8☌, observed in the Lut Desert in Iran and the Sonoran Desert in Mexico, is over 10☌ above the previous global record of 70.7☌ observed in 2005. Using 18 years of the latest version of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature (LST) data, we globally investigate the spatial patterns of hot and cold extremes as well as diurnal temperature range (DTR). Most previous studies of extreme temperatures have primarily focused on atmospheric temperatures. Scientific color maps are used in this study to avoid data distortion and visual error ( Crameri et al. (d) The average maximum LSTs by latitude, and (e) zonal maximum and average LSTs for each of the 14 biomes: tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TrMoistBrFor), tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests (TrDryBrFor), tropical and subtropical coniferous forests (TrConFor), temperate broadleaf and mixed forests (TemBrFor), temperate conifer forests (TemConFor), boreal forests/taiga (Taiga), tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands (TrGrass), temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands (TemGrass), flooded grasslands and savannas (FlGrass), montane grasslands and shrublands (MnGrass), tundra (Tundra), Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub (Med), deserts and xeric shrublands (Desert), and mangroves (Mangrove). The percentages of days with daily maximum LSTs above 70☌ are 25.1%, 8.2%, 4.4%, and 5.2% in the Lut Desert, the Sonoran Desert, the Djibouti xeric shrublands, and the Gariep Karoo Desert, respectively. The red areas indicate temperatures above 70☌. Locations of the (a) annual and (b) daily maximum LSTs from to and (c) histograms showing the frequency distributions of daily maximum LSTs of the four hottest places on Earth during the study period. ![]()
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