Last week, researchers from Brazil claimed to have measured temperatures of 20.75 degrees on an island off the peninsula - beating the record for the entire Antarctic region of 19.8 degrees in January 1982.

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Fowler said both of the new measurements would need to be transmitted to Professor Randall Cerveny, a researcher at Arizona State University who examines reported temperature records for WMO.

Cerveny then shares the data with a wider group of scientists who "will carefully evaluate the available evidence (including comparisons to surrounding stations) and debate the merits and problems of the observation," said Fowler.

The evaluation normally takes six to nine months, after which Cerveny would "formally either accept or reject the potential extreme," giving official WMO approval to the new record, he said.