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On Thursday, the Esperanza Base, a year-round Argentine research center on the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula, recorded a temperature of 18.3 degrees Celsius -- nearly 65 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Argentina's national meteorological service.

The previous record was set in the same location in March 2015 at 17.5 degrees C, or 63.5 degrees F.

\"PHOTO:
via Reuters
PHOTO: Antarctica recorded its warmest temperature on record.
>

Such high temperatures used to occur every 1,000 years and then every 100 years, Ricardo Jana, glacier scientists for the Chilean Antarctic Institute, told Reuters.

\"Now we're seeing them, I think, in the order of decades,\" Jana said. \"I think that's a consequence of the global climate change.\"

\"PHOTO:
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
PHOTO: A small block of ice is displayed for a photo, close to Fournier Bay, Antarctica, Feb. 3, 2020.
>
\"PHOTO:
National Meteorological Service /EPA via Shutterstock
PHOTO: Esperanza base registers record temperatures in Antarctica, Feb. 7, 2020.
>

The recent highs in the region have followed a string of heat waves since January, Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute, told Reuters.

The amount of ice lost annually from the Antarctic has increased six-fold from 1979 to 2017, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations' authoritative voice on weather, climate and water, said in a statement last week.

\"PHOTO:
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
PHOTO: People walk along Orne Harbour, Antarctica, Feb. 6, 2020.
>

Despite the spike in temperatures, snow has continued to fall in Fildes Bay, on an archipelago north of the peninsula between King George Island and Nelson Island, scientists said.

ABC News' Rashid Haddou contributed to this report.

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