Earlier this month, a heat wave melted the northern tip of Antarctica in only 9 days.
The NASA images show that almost ¼ of the snow cover on the island was gone, a common sign of the ongoing climate crisis.
By the end of the heat wave that lasted 9 days, a large part of the land beneath the ice cap of the island was visible and pools of melted water appeared on the surface.
Unfortunately, Antarctica had its hottest day ever recorded earlier this month, i.e. 64.9 degrees F. LA measured the same temperature that day, according to NASA.
20 % Snow Has Melted
In only a week, 4 inches of the snow on the Eagle melted or around 20 percent of the total snow accumulation of this season, said NASA.
According to Mauri Pelto who’s a geologist in the Nichols College in Massachusetts, he’s not seen melt ponds developing this fast in Antarctica.
He explained that they’re usually seen in Greenland and Alaska, but it’s not a common sight in Antarctica.
According to Xavier Fettweis, climate scientist, the heat wave was the major contributor to the sea level rise this summer.
Melting events like this are rare for Antarctica, even during the summer season as it’s one of the coldest places in the world.
The heat wave was result of high temperatures which haven’t happened on the continent until the 21st century.
This weather event becomes common with the rise of global temperatures.
Why Is the Ice on Antarctica Melting?
The ice in Antarctica is melting fast because of the heat-trapping gas pollution from humans and the rise of sea levels can be damaging for the millions of people residing along the coasts of our world.
The ice sheets of Antarctica contain sufficient water to elevate the sea levels by almost 2020 feet, claims the WMO.
Earlier this month, a major iceberg along the west of the Antarctica broke off and this 116 square mile ice probably crashed due to the warmer temperatures of the sea.
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