Antarctica’s Conger Ice Shelf Suffers ‘Complete Collapse’

An ice shelf the size of Hong Kong has collapsed in eastern Antarctica, causing a large iceberg and raising concerns that warm temperatures may be to blame.

Catherine Colello Walker, an Earth and planetary scientist from NASA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, posted combined images from the Landsat and MODIS satellites. The 463- square mile ice shelf is gone, replaced by an open ocean and a lot of floating ice. C-38 is a 18.4 mile-long (28.6-kilometer) iceberg.

Satellite images show that the Conger ice shelf collapsed around March 15 and that visible disruptions to Conger started to appear earlier in the month. Ice shelves rest atop the ocean. Warming waters weaken the floating ice shelves that form in key places along the coast.

The collapse of the Conger ice shelf is one of three distinct events this month.

The temperature at the Concordia research base in east Antarctica hit 11 degrees Fahrenheit (-11 degrees Celsius) on March 18. This time of year, that location is 70 degrees F higher than normal. It is not clear if climate change is responsible for the warm moist air delivered by an atmospheric river. It is not clear if the warm weather is the reason for the collapse.

Walker told the Guardian that it was the most significant collapse since the demise of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002. The Conger ice shelf has been decreasing since the beginning of the year. The complete collapse of the Conger Ice Shelf in recent days is the end of a long-term multi-decadal demise of the ice shelf, according to a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

The U.S. National Ice Center named the two glaciers C-37 and C-38. The larger of the two is C-38, which is 28.6 miles long and 18.6 miles wide. The Glenzer Ice Shelf is a remnant of C-38.

According to NASA Earth Observatory, the sea ice around Antarctica has been observed at its lowest levels since 1979. Sea ice fell below the previous record in February. The sea ice this year is missing an area about twice the size of California, according to the NASA Earth Observatory.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center researcher says that strong winds are pushing ice into warmer temperatures. He told the Earth Observatory that ocean temperatures have an influence on sea ice.

It is obvious that things are changing. These observations will help to clarify what is going on and the extent to which human-caused climate change is responsible.