Scientists report complete collapse of East Antarctica’s Conger Ice Shelf

Credit: © Catherine Walker, WHOI

The Conger Ice Shelf in East Antarctica completely collapsed on/around March 15, 2022. This image was captured using Landsat 8 satellite data on March 23, 2022. Experts including WHOI’s Catherine Walker say this was a surprise because while ice shelf collapse is something we predict to happen in West Antarctica, East Antarctica is the highest, coldest, driest place in the world and mostly thought of as stable.

« Scientists report complete collapse of East Antarctica’s Conger Ice Shelf

Before its collapse, the Conger Ice Shelf area was roughly 1200 square kilometers (about the size of Rome) as of March 14, 2022. It had also been undergoing some moderate amount of retreat since at least January 2020, but according to WHOI experts, the total collapse was not predicted.

« Scientists report complete collapse of East Antarctica’s Conger Ice Shelf

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