Coming across a hole in the Antarctic that is larger than Maryland might well be cause for concern. In 2016 and 2017, scientists saw just that: gaping wide in the middle of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea were giant holes in the sea ice. These holes, called polynyas, hadn’t been seen on this scale since the 1970s, when New Zealand-sized holes were …
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Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found decades-old aerial photos that are helping them better understand the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves. The photos offer an unparalleled dataset that could also improve our ability to predict sea level rise and influence how we approach climate action. On November 28, 1966, an American flight crossed the Antarctic Peninsula south of …
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Antarctica’s waters are getting saltier and driving a collapse in its sea ice — and scientists aren’t sure why. Antarctic sea ice has been declining since 2015, defying model predictions to hit a record 0.6 million square miles (1.55 million square kilometres) below its expected average extent in 2023. At winter’s peak in July of that year, the region was …
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