Antarctica Heatwave Making the South Warmer than most Countries this Spring

""When you think of setting high temperature records, Antarctica might not be the first place that comes to mind. But because climate change is warming the poles of our planet faster than the rest (NASA explains: "energy in the atmosphere that is carried to the poles through large weather systems."), records tend to fall rather quickly. Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground writes that "the warmest temperature ever recorded on the continent of Antarctica may have occurred on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, when the mercury shot up to 63.5°F (17.5°C) at Argentina's Esperanza Base on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula." (shown above)

When was the previous record? The day before: "the previous hottest temperature recorded in Antarctica was 63.3°F (17.4°C) set just one day previously at Argentina's Marambio Base, on a small islet just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula."

Before that you have to go back to April 24, 1961, to hit 62.8°F (17.1°C), which was also recorded at Esperanza Base.

Note that the World Meteorological Organization has not yet had time to certify that last week's temps are all-time records for Antarctica, but the Argentinian weather service has verified that the temperatures measured at Esperanza Base and Marambio Base were the highest ever measured at each site. A lot more details about temperature records in Antarctica can be found here.""

http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/antarctica-has-never-been-hot-record-broken-twice-last-week.html

South American Nazi Escape in Argentina Stumbled on in an Archaeological Jungle

""A new discovery suggests the Nazis made it further into the jungles of South America than previously realized. A team of Argentine archaeologists say they've stumbled upon a secret German lair built by the Nazis during the Second World War.

As the Clarin newspaper is reporting, archaeologists from the University of Buenos Aires have discovered the remains of three buildings in Teyu Cuare provincial park in northern Argentina. The structures were found alongside five German coins produced between 1938 and 1941, and a fragment of a porcelain plate bearing the inscription "Made in Germany." Intriguingly, the archaeologists also found Nazi symbols, inclueding the swastika, carved onto the structure's walls.

Though more work is needed to confirm the finding, the archaeologists speculate that the buildings, located near the Paraguayan border, were intended to house high-ranking Nazis looking to escape prosecution after the Second World War.

One of the buildings appears to be a look-out tower, while the other two may have been intended for housing and storage. The site also features a number of apparent escape points. The archaeologists describe it as a protected, dependable site where the Nazis could live quietly.

"We can find no other explanation as to why anyone would build these structures, at such great effort and expense, in a site which at that time was totally inaccessible, away from the local community, with material which is not typical of the regional architecture," lead researcher Daniel Schavelzon told Clarin. "Apparently, halfway through World War II, the Nazis had a secret project of building shelters for top leaders in the event of defeat — inaccessible sites, in the middle of deserts, in the mountains, on a cliff or in the middle of the jungle like this.""

http://io9.com/a-secret-nazi-hideout-may-have-been-discovered-in-an-ar-1693066174