Antarctic researchers say a marine heatwave could threaten ice shelves
Enlarge / Iceberg A-74 calved from Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf in February 2021. (credit: Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2021)
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Research scientists on ships along Antarctica's west coast said their recent voyages have been marked by an eerily warm ocean and record-low sea ice coverage-extreme climate conditions, even compared to the big changes of recent decades, when the region warmed much faster than the global average.
Despite that extraordinary change, what we've seen this year is dramatic," said University of Delaware oceanographer Carlos Moffat last week from Punta Arenas, Chile, after completing a research cruise aboard the RV Laurence M. Gould to collect data on penguin feeding, as well as on ice and oceans as chief scientist for the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research program.