An Antarctic glacier lost one-fifth of its area in just one year.

      A study published in Nature Geoscience covered the period from late 2021 to September 2023. During that time the speed of ice motion at the surface increased nearly sixfold, and thinning rates nearly fortyfold, write N+1. Scientists link such a sharp acceleration to the loss of natural support: in 2022 the landfast ice in the bay broke up, which had previously held the glacier tongue and protected it from ocean waves.

      After losing that buttress, Hektoria began to collapse at record rates. According to the researchers, in just the last two months of 2022 the glacier tongue shortened by more than 8 kilometers, with 2 kilometers lost in just three days — from December 25 to 28.

      Scientists believe that Hektoria may be one of the fastest-melting glaciers in the world: it is thinning twice as fast as Patagonian glaciers and retreating inland seven times faster than the Ross Glacier.

      The authors of the paper emphasize that such rapid melting of Antarctic glaciers increases the threat of global sea level rise and makes precise monitoring of changes in the polar regions even more important.