Glacier in Antarctica retreats 8 km in two months and breaks melting record

Between November and December 2022, the Hektoria glacier, on the West Antarctic Peninsula, scared scientists studying its melting. In just two months, the mass retreated eight kilometers, the fastest speed ever recorded for a glacier still attached to the earth – around ten times faster than any similar melting in glaciers of this type.

According to a study published in the journal Nature Geosciencethe melt was caused by an instability in the rocky plain below the glacier. When the ice becomes thinner, part of it comes into direct contact with seawater and has a weaker structure.

From then on, the process accelerates and the glacier starts to shed icebergs and move quickly. Therefore, according to scientists, the glacier’s retreat was caused more by this process than by changes in atmospheric or ocean conditions – such as a sudden increase in temperature.