NASA
Temperatures in the Antarctic have been surging unseasonably for the past several days. New data collected in the region shows at least one island has had 20% of its snow melt in the past 9 days.
Eagle Island, which is on Antarctica’s northern tip, can be seen in before and after photos losing nearly a quarter of its snow cover in a little over a week.
Climate deniers continue to oppose action meant to slow down climate change. Meanwhile, images like the above are becoming increasingly common. The data is clear: if we don’t act soon, we will irrevocably alter our planet’s climate.
A startling and unprecedented Antarctic heat wave through the month of February has alarmed many observatories. On February 6, Antarctica’s weather was almost 65 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the hottest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica.
Los Angeles also experienced 65-degree weather that day.
The previous all-time high in the region was set back in March of 2015. On March 24 that year, the temperature was 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I haven’t seen melt ponds develop this quickly in Antarctica,” geologist Mauri Pelto of Nichols College in Massachusetts told the NASAEarth Observatory.
“You see these kinds of melt events in Alaska and Greenland, but not usually in Antarctica.”
Meanwhile, other scientists explained the massive jump in sea levels over the summer as a result of this massive snowmelt. The heat causes snow once considered “permanent” to melt, releasing enormous amounts of water into the oceans and devastating the ecology of the Antarctic.
Scientists say that much of the current climate crisis stems from greenhouse gas pollution by humans. Antarctica’s ice has enough water trapped to allow the oceans to rise an estimated 200 feet globally.
This would be devastating for the millions of people that live along the world’s coastlines. Eagle Island’s current melt event is a microcosm of the current climate crisis.
Now’s as good a time as ever to donate to charities that champion the cause of fighting climate change.
