Abstract
<jats:p>Data on daily maximum air temperatures for the period from 1932 to 2025 in Barentsburg (Svalbard archipelago) are analyzed. Twenty episodes of extreme air temperature rises (heatwaves) were identified. It was found that there has been an increase in the duration and intensity of heatwaves after the 1990s. The most intense and longest heatwave was observed from July 31 to August 27, 2024. The connection between the temperature rise and atmospheric circulation patterns near the surface and in the mid-troposphere, as well as the presence of atmospheric blocking based on an averaged anomaly of potential vorticity were investigated. The analysis showed that in all cases of the temperature rise over the Barents and Kara seas, a large anticyclonic area disrupting the western atmospheric circulation was formed.</jats:p>