West Antarctica Is Missing Way Too Much Ice
Key takeaways
- It’s winter in Antarctica, when sea ice expands rapidly around the continent peaking in September.
- But satellite observations showed the Bellingshausen Sea—on the west side of the Antarctic peninsular and which by June would usually be covered by ice—was almost completely ice free.
- Scientists said the region was missing about 650,000 square kilometers (250,000 square miles) of sea ice, compared with the average between 1991 and 2020.
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Photograph: Sebnem Coskun/Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Antarctica’s west coast is missing an area of winter sea ice the size of France, sparking concerns for threatened penguins other marine life and global sea levels.
One expert said the loss of ice in the Bellingshausen Sea was “depressing” and the failure of ice to form could have intensified a heatwave over the continent’s peninsular last week that saw daytime temperatures peak at 15.4 degrees Celsius which is more than 20 degrees Celsius above average.
It’s winter in Antarctica, when sea ice expands rapidly around the continent peaking in September.