Antarctica Sets -95C Record Low Temperature

The coldest ever recorded temperature on Earth has been reported by scientists in East Antarctica.

Newly analysed data showed the temperature plunged to -94.7C (-135.8F) in August 2010.

The review of Nasa satellite data also revealed it came close again in July this year, with -92.9C (-135.3F).

Both beat the previous record of -89.2C (-128.6F).

Ice scientist Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre announced the record at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on Monday.

"It's more like you'd see on Mars on a nice summer day in the Poles," he said.

"I'm confident that these pockets are the coldest places on Earth."

However, Mr Scambos said the temperatures would not be in the Guinness Book of World Records because they were measured by satellite, not thermometers.

"Thank God, I don't know how exactly it feels," he said, of the record temperature.

He added that scientists routinely made naked dashes in the South Pole during temperatures of 73C below zero (-100F) as a stunt, so people can survive such extreme cold for about three minutes.

Mr Scambos said researchers needed to breathe through a snorkel that brings air into the coat through a sleeve and warms it up "so you don't inhale (the cold air) by accident".

Waleed Abdalati, an ice scientist at the University of Colorado and Nasa's former chief scientist, said the new record was likely to be an unusual random reading in a place that has not been measured much before.

He added that it may have been colder or hotter in the past, but that we would not know.

"It does speak to the range of conditions on this Earth, some of which we haven't been able to observe," he said.

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