Melting Antarctica: Sea-ice records new low as scientists fear collapse of WAIS

The sea ice surrounding the Antarctic continent is now at its lowest in history since the time people began measuring it using satellites in the late 1970s. National Snow and Ice Data Centre said that less sea ice is expected during the southern hemisphere summer, however, this year is exceptional. The coverage has been reduced to just 1.91 million square km (737,000 sq miles) by warm air, winds and water. What is more worrisome is that the melt has to continue till this summer.

Last year, Antarctica had not touched the previous record-breaking minimum of 1.92 million sq km till February 25. In the last seven years, three record-breaking years for low sea ice have been 2017, 2022 and now 2023.\

ALSO READ | 'Greater London-sized' 1,550 sq km iceberg breaks off of Antarctic ice shelf. Watch!

Add WION as a Preferred Source

These “remarkable” losses of Antarctic sea ice indicate the increasing level of heat in the ocean and such changes in weather patterns reflect that a climate crisis is evident in the observations.

Scientists have already expressed their concern about the melting ice in Antarctica. Climate models, dating back to 2014, have suggested that the continent's giant West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is bound to collapse because of increasing levels of global heating.

The researchers have warned that the ice sheets and their glaciers are exposed to waves due to the increasing loss of sea ice, which further accelerates melting and disintegration.

WATCH | Antarctica's 'doomsday glaciers' is in trouble

Prof Karsten Gohl, who works at Alfred Wegener Institute's Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany and had visited the region for the first time in 1994, said, “I have never seen such an extreme, the ice-free situation here before.”

Gohl, who was on the research vessel Polarstern in Antarctica, said: “The continental shelf, an area the size of Germany, is now completely ice-free. It is troubling to consider how quickly this change has taken place.”

Helmholtz Centre's Prof Christian Haas also said, “The rapid decline in sea ice over the past six years is quite remarkable since the ice cover hardly changed at all in the 35 years before.”

You cannow write for wionews.comand be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with ushere.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE