Antarctic Ice Shelf, Almost As Big As Rome, Collapses As Temperature Rises

An ice shelf about the size of Rome has collapsed in East Antarctica, according to satellite data. This happened after the region experienced record high temperatures over the last few days.

The Conger ice shelf had an approximate surface area of 1,200 square kilometres. The collapse happened around March 15, scientists said expressing concern at the satellite pictures released by American space agency NASA. The Conger is about the third of the size of the Larsen B ice shelf, which collapsed in 2002.

“It won’t have huge effects, most likely, but it’s a sign of what might be coming,” Dr Catherine Colello Walker, earth and planetary scientist at NASA, told The Guardian.

According to National Snow and ice Data Centre in the United States, ice shelves are permanent floating sheets of ice that connect to landmasses. Since ice shelves already float in the ocean, they do not contribute directly to sea level rise when they break up. However, ice shelf collapse could contribute to sea level rise.

The temperature in East Antarctica rose to minus 11.8 degrees Celsius last week, more than 40 degrees Celsius warmer than the seasonal norm. The rise was caused by “atmospheric rivers”, according to weather experts, which trapped heat over the continent, as reported by The Guardian.

The atmospheric river phenomenon consists of air corridors transporting large quantities of steam over long distances.

Normally, temperatures fall with the end of the southern summer, but the Dumont d’Urville station on Antarctica registered record temperatures for March with 4.9 degrees Celsius (40.82 degrees Fahrenheit), at a time of year when normally temperatures are already sub-zero.

The unprecedented temperatures come after the National Snow and Ice Data Center in the United States said Antarctica’s sea ice fell below two million square kilometres (772,204 sq miles) in late February for the first time since 1979.

Earth’s average surface temperature has gone up by one degree Celsius since the 19th century due to climate change, enough to increase the intensity of droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones.

But the air over Antarctica has warmed more than twice that much.