Antarctic Mystery

It’s the dead of winter in the Southern Hemisphere and yet the Wilkins Ice Shelf is continuing to disintegrate. This is puzzling researchers who expected the winter to bring a respite from the collapsing ice shelf. Instead recent satellite images from the European Space Agency shows that the rapid break up has not slowed down, even with the extreme winter cold.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a huge frozen expanse that connects the Antarctic Peninsula with adjacent islands. The shelf had been stable for most of the twentieth century, but in the 90’s everything radically changed as the shelf began to crack and fracture due to global warming. Back then scientists estimated that the shelf would be around for another 30 years. The shelf will likely not make it another year before it completely disintegrates.

What of the mystery as to why this is happening in the dead of the Antarctic winter? Some fetching looking seals, wearing specially outfitted temperature caps, may have the answer. They are making a record of temperatures at varying degrees in the Antarctic Ocean. The results show that warm water is mixing into this area from deep ocean currents. This warm water, combined with record warm air temperatures is contributing to the break up - Mystery solved.