Scientists Alarmed as Massive Conger Ice Shelf in Antarctica Collapse Due to Record-Breaking Heat

According to satellite data, an ice shelf the size of Rome crumbled in East Antarctica within days of record high temperatures.

(Photo : Mathilde Bellenger/AFP via Getty Images)
The melting of ice caused the formation of a freshwater lake in Antarctica.

Conger Ice Shelf

According to experts, the Conger ice shelf, which had a surface area of around 1,200 square kilometers, disintegrated on March 15.

Last week, East Antarctica had exceptionally mild temperatures, with Concordia station setting a new record temperature of -11.8°C on March 18, more than 40°C above seasonal averages. An atmospheric river confined heat across the continent, resulting in record temperatures.

Also Read: Study Shows How Glacier Actually Holds Less Ice than Experts Previously Believed

Ice Shelves

Ice shelves are over-the-water extensions of ice sheets that play a vital role in controlling inland ice. Inland ice flows quicker into the ocean without them, causing sea level rise.

Though the Conger ice shelf is small, it is "one of the most significant collapse events anywhere in Antarctica since the early 2000s when the Larsen B ice shelf disintegrated," according to Dr. Catherine Colello Walker, an earth and planetary scientist at Nasa and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

It's unlikely to make a significant impact, but Walker believes it's a precursor of coming. According to Walker, the Conger ice shelf has been eroding since the mid-2000s, although very slowly until the beginning of 2020. Compared to January readings of roughly 1,200 sq km, the ice shelf looked to have lost more than half its surface area by March 4 this year.

Even a tiny ice shelf fall in East Antarctica surprised Peter Neff, a glaciologist and assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota. He explained, "We still regard East Antarctica like this gigantic, high, dry, cold, and immovable ice cube. Current thinking implies that owing to the geometry of the ice and bedrock there; you can't achieve the same rapid rates of ice loss [as in West Antarctica]."

According to satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, displacement of the ice shelf began between March 5 and 7, according to Neff.

Glacier Breaking

In March, three calving episodes - when ice pieces break off from the edge of a glacier - happened in East Antarctica, according to Helen Amanda Fricker, a professor of glaciology at the Scripps Polar Center. There were lesser calving occurrences of the Totten glacier and Glenzer ice shelf in addition to the Conger ice shelf collapse.

Because buttressing ice shelves constrain most of East Antarctica, Fricker stated in a tweet that they must keep a watch on all of the ice shelves there.

According to Prof Andrew Mackintosh, director of Monash University's faculty of earth, climate, and environment, the Conger ice shelf had considerable volumes of melting from the ocean underneath it, which might have preconditioned it for collapse.

Ice shelves lose mass due to their normal behavior, but a large-scale ice shelf collapse is a rare occurrence, according to Mackintosh. Rather than typical behavior, this appears to be a collapse.

On the other hand, the collapse itself might have been triggered by surface melting as a result of the region's recent record-breaking high temperatures. To relate this decline to current warming, more data is needed. The Larsen B ice shelf collapsed in 2002 due to surface melting.

According to Alex Sen Gupta, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, the Antarctic heat wave began on March 15. He added that large areas of eastern Antarctica appear to have been almost 20 degrees Celsius warmer than average.

Affecting Sea Levels

According to Prof Matt King of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, the break-up of the Conger ice shelf would have little influence on sea level because ice shelves are already floating. He said that because the glacier behind the Conger ice shelf was modest, it would only have a little influence on future sea levels.

Scientists are particularly concerned about the future of the Thwaites glacier, which is the size of Florida and is known as the "doomsday glacier" because it stores enough water to increase world sea levels by more than half a meter.

According to King, the pace with which [the Conger] ice shelf is breaking apart tells us that things may change swiftly. "Our carbon emissions will affect Antarctica, and Antarctica will bite the rest of the world's coasts sooner than we expect."

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