Antarctica’s ice sheet shrinks to a record low
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The temperature in the homeland of penguins has risen significantly
Employees of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (St. Petersburg) recorded a record rate of sea ice melting off the Southern Continent over the past 44 years.
Record low levels of sea ice were recorded in Antarctica by Russian scientists from the Center for Ice and Hydrometeorological Information of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. According to them, this year the southern continent, where summer has just ended, counted only 1.8 million square kilometers of ice.
In general, according to the research institute, the “minimal ice cover” is observed off the coast of Antarctica for the second year in a row. If earlier the area of ice in the seas of Antarctica (it is tracked by satellite data) was reduced during the summer season to 3 million square meters. km, then at the end of the summer season of 2022, sea ice occupied only 1.92 million square meters. km. At the end of February 2023, the area of Antarctic sea ice was even less – about 1.8 million square meters. km.
This is the lowest sea ice extent recorded since 1979 for regular Antarctic ice monitoring. After summer melting, this year the ice remained mainly in the Weddell and Amundsen seas, in the rest it was seen only along the coast.
As one of the reasons for such active melting of sea ice, experts point to warmer weather in Antarctica in the past two years. It is caused by the so-called Antarctic Circumpolar Current or, as it is also called, the current of the West Winds surrounding the Southern Continent.
The volcanic belt, which is located in the Pacific region, along the western coast of the mainland, also gives heat to Antarctica. With mass eruptions in this volcanic zone, the rate of sea ice melting also increases. This is partly due to the fact that the ash that falls reduces the reflectivity of ice and snow.
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