By Laura Tenenbaum
Boydell Glacier, (click here) Antarctica retreat in Landsat images from 2001 and 2017, terminus in 2001 at red dots in 2017 at yellow dots.
From February 5 through February 13, (click here) temperatures in Antarctica were about the same as in Los Angeles. Esperanza Base on the Antarctic Peninsula reached 65 degrees, the hottest ever recorded. But this hasn’t been the only heatwave in Antarctica this summer. There were major warming events in both November 2019 and January 2020. And sea surface temperatures in the area were also higher than average.
Not surprisingly, these sustained high temperatures, which were significantly above freezing, caused rapid melting. During all three of these warm spells, widespread melting occurred on nearby glaciers. About 0.9 square miles, which equates to about 20 percent of snowpack on Eagle Island, melted during the February event. Satellite images also detected widespread surface melting nearby on Boydell Glacier.
Until the 21st century, this type of persistent high temperature was unusual in Antarctica, but it has become more common in recent years....
