Tuesday, 02 January 2024 12:17 GMT

Antarctic Glacier Loses Half Its Length in Just Two Months


(MENAFN) An Antarctic glacier has vanished nearly half its length in only two months, marking the fastest retreat ever documented, a study published Monday in Nature Geoscience revealed.

The Hektoria Glacier, situated on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula, receded approximately 8.2 kilometers (5 miles) between November and December 2022. Over the broader period from January 2022 to March 2023, the glacier lost nearly 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) in total.

Scientists attributed the dramatic retreat not to ocean or atmospheric warming, as previously believed, but to a rapid collapse triggered by ice plain calving — a process in which ice detaches from a flat, weakly grounded section of the glacier.

The study indicated that glaciers located on so-called ice plains could be far more unstable than previously believed.

Researchers warned that similar mechanisms could put other Antarctic glaciers at risk of sudden collapse, with potentially major consequences for global sea levels.

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