Thinning Antarctic ice shelf crushes after heatwave
The 1,200-square-kilometer Conger Ice Shelf collapsed completely on or around March 15, according to satellite images.
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NASA Modis satellite image of an Antarctic ice shelf taken March 21, 2022 (NASA / REUTERS)
An East Antarctica ice shelf disintegrated this month as a result of the region's extreme heat, scientists reported.
The 1,200-square-kilometer Conger Ice Shelf collapsed completely on or around March 15, according to satellite images.
NASA Earth and Planetary Scientist Catherine Colello Walker tweeted, on Friday, "Possible it hit its tipping point following the #Antarctic #AtmosphericRiver and heat wave too?”.
Walker also shared images of a white expanse crumbling into shards over the dark ocean.
Ice shelves, which are permanent floating sheets of ice attached to the land, form over thousands of years and act like levees, holding back snow and ice that would otherwise flow into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise.
Peter Neff, a glaciologist at the University of Minnesota, said that “the March heatwave, with temperatures reaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) above normal in parts of East Antarctica, was tied to the atmospheric river phenomenon.”
East Antarctica barely warmed in the last century, but some regions were affected, and the continent lost an average of 149 billion tonnes of ice per year from 2002 to 2020, according to NASA. The loss of the Conger Ice Shelf is the most recent example of how climate change is threatening the eco-fabric.
