Ice sheet around Antarctica melts to record low on record

The media writes that the area of ​​ice around the coldest continent has decreased to 1.79 million square kilometers. This figure is the lowest in the history of satellite observations, which have been conducted over the past 44 years.

The material of the British newspaper indicates that this is the third anti-record since February 25, 2022 – then the ice occupied 1.92 million square kilometers. On February 15 this year, the “white” ring was reduced to 1.91 million square kilometers, and by February 25 – to 1.79 million. “We see less ice everywhere. This is a circumpolar event,” Will Hobbs, an expert on Antarctic sea ice at the University of Tasmania, told the publication.

This decrease in the belt leads to an increased impact of storms on ice shelves. Those begin to melt, resulting in an increase in the level of the oceans. But the greatest concern is caused by the “Doomsday glacier” (in diameter, its outlet part extends for 120 km along the coast, the speed of the surface movement is more than 2 km / year) in the Amundsen Sea. The fact is that the glacier contains such an amount of water that if it starts to melt, the oceans can rise by 50 centimeters.

Scientists note that the ongoing changes can have a serious impact on the climate around the planet and affect countries that have access to the sea or ocean.

In the meantime, snowdrifts in Moscow have reached their maximum height for the entire winter – the snow cover has grown from 36 to 41 cm.