ABC News February 12, 2020

Dramatic images show ice-less region of Antarctica following record-high temperatures

WATCH: Images show ice-less region of Antarctica following record-high temperatures

Images out of a northern region of Antarctica show a landscape nearly devoid of ice and snow after record-setting temperatures last week.

via Reuters
Antarctica recorded its warmest temperature on record.

Video taken near in the Chilean Antarctic Territory, on the continent's peninsula, show mountain bases with mere patches of snow and sections of ocean topped with little to no ice.

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.

MORE: World Meteorological Organization will verify if new Antarctic peninsula temperature is a record

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

via Reuters
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.

MORE: Glaciers on Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe, are melting rapidly due to climate change, expert says

"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."

Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
A small block of ice is displayed for a photo, close to Fournier Bay, Antarctica, Feb. 3, 2020.
National Meteorological Service /EPA via Shutterstock
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.

MORE: What to know about the rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet, a significant contributor to rising sea levels

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.

Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
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.