Bellingshausen Sea Loses 650,000 Sq Km of Winter Ice as Antarctica Runs 20C Above Average
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 12
Bellingshausen Sea Loses 650,000 Sq Km of Winter Ice as Antarctica Runs 20C Above Average
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 12
Summary
650,000 square kilometers of winter sea ice—about the size of France—are missing from the Bellingshausen Sea, leaving the area almost completely ice-free in June when it is usually covered.
15.4C temperatures at Argentina's Esperanza base on June 5-6 were more than 20C above the average daily maximum of -6.2C, and scientists said the missing ice likely worsened that Antarctic Peninsula heatwave.
11.4 million square kilometers of sea ice surrounded Antarctica on June 10, down from a 12.6 million long-term average, with experts calling this the third very low-ice episode in four years for the region.
Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers lie just west of the exposed coast, and scientists warned that longer periods without protective sea ice could speed ice-shelf breakup and raise future global sea levels.
Emperor penguins, Adélie penguins, krill and crabeater seals are already under pressure there; thousands of emperor chicks died in a 2022 breeding failure that helped push the species to endangered status this year.
Has Antarctica's 'flipped' climate system already locked in a catastrophic collapse of global ocean currents?
How could Antarctic melting paradoxically plunge Europe into a deep freeze while superheating the South Pole?
Unprecedented Antarctic Sea Ice Loss in 2026: Causes, Impacts, and the Race to Prevent Irreversible Change
Overview
In the winter of 2026, the Bellingshausen Sea off Antarctica’s west coast experienced an extraordinary loss of sea ice, with an area equivalent to the size of France missing. This dramatic deficit formed part of a striking dipole pattern, as the nearby Amundsen Sea saw above-average ice cover. Scientists link these opposing anomalies to intense cyclonic activity and below-average atmospheric pressure in the region. The unprecedented reduction in sea ice raises serious concerns for threatened marine life, such as penguins, and signals far-reaching environmental impacts, highlighting the rapid and profound changes underway in Antarctica’s climate system.