Global warming update in Antarctica

Say goodbye to the Wilkins Ice Shelf, it appears.

This breakup is puzzling because it occurred in the Southern Hemispheric winter. It’s also behaving differently than previous breakups.

“The scale of rifting in the newly-removed areas seems larger, and the pieces are moving out as large bergs and not toppled, finely-divided ice melange,” said Ted Scambos from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.

What all this means, of course, remains to be seen. But, as the Antarctic Peninsula has seen a more rapid temperature rise than anywhere else on the continent, it can’t mean much good.