An ice shelf larger than New York City has broken off eastern Antarctica, the first major shelf to collapse there in more than four decades of satellite observations.
— much of which comes from western Antarctica — and ranks as a significant driver of global sea level rise. What happens in eastern Antarctica is particularly important because if all of its ice were to melt, it would raise sea levels by well over 100 feet.
The collapse of the Conger Ice Shelf occurred at the beginning of the record-breaking warm spell in eastern Antarctica. On March 18, temperatures rose 50 to 90 degrees above normal over parts of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet andTemperatures near where the ice shelf broke off began rising above the melting point right around the time it separated from the continent. A
, about 300 kilometers from the Conger Ice Shelf had maximum temperatures above freezing from March 15-18.Neff said the pulse of warmth, transported over the continent by an usually intense plume of moisture known as an atmospheric river, probably played a relatively small role in the ice shelf’s collapse. But it may have contributed to its disintegration, he added.
The record low sea ice levels surrounding Antarctica probably played a bigger role in hastening the ice shelf’s demise, Neff said. The ice extent fell below 2 million square kilometers on Feb. 25, the lowest in 43 years of observations, amid windy and unusually warm conditions.Satellite imagery show its disintegration evolved over the course of many years, but that the recent collapse was rapid.
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. The image below shows its extent in 1973 , where it joined with the Shackleton Ice Shelf. Most of the loss took place from 1973-2000
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