Scientists are becoming more worried about a massive piece of ice in Antarctica that is not refreezing despite the dropping temperatures. This ice is even bigger than Mexico in terms of area.
Antarctica’s sea ice reached a new record low in February, marking the second consecutive year. However, there is now an excessive amount of ice in motion around the continent, causing concern among scientists who are urgently seeking to comprehend the situation. To put it differently, this is yet another alarming indication that climate change is spreading worldwide.
During this time of year, sea ice usually forms in Antarctica at a predictable rate. However, recent satellite data shows that the amount of refrozen sea ice is significantly lower than expected, with a shortfall of approximately 0.9 million square miles compared to expert predictions.
Researchers are confused by the news because it is significantly lower than anything they have observed before.
“The Antarctic system has always been highly variable,” Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CNN. “This [current] level of variation, though, is so extreme that something radical has changed in the past two years, but especially this year, relative to all previous years going back at least 45 years.”
“Since 2016, it’s remained low, and now the bottom has fallen out,” Scambos added. “Something major in a huge part of the planet is suddenly behaving differently from what we saw for the past 45 years.”
Reference- NOAA, CNN, The Guardian, NASA Earth Observatory