CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABILITY FACTS
The Conger Ice Shelf in East Antarctica, thought to be stable and relatively unaffected by climate change, completely disintegrated in mid-March. Here's what the experts are saying about this event. Just a few weeks after scientists logged the smallest sea ice extent for Antarctica in over 40 years, temperatures soared across the eastern part of the continent to roughly 30°C higher than normal . In the aftermath, satellite imagery captured something completely unexpected. The Conger Ice Shelf — a roughly 1,200 square kilometre sheet of glacial ice along the coast of East Antarctica — had shattered in just a matter of days. Satellite images show the Conger Ice Shelf relatively intact on March 12 (left), but a similar overpass on March 21 shows the ice shelf completely gone. North is to the right side of the image frames, west is towards the top. The inset map shows the location of the former Conger Ice Shelf along the coast of Antarctica. Credit: NASA/Terra MODIS/Scott Sutherla