Around its edge zone, and from glacier top to ice shelf bottom, Antarctica is melting. Above-freezing surface temperatures during the austral summer of 2016 and 2017 have resulted in the formation of numerous surface melt ponds around the Antarctic perimeter. Meanwhile, large cracks are growing through Antarctic ice shelves as warmer ocean currents melt the towering floating glaciers from below. The overall picture is one of a critical frozen region undergoing rapid change due to the human-forced heating of our world. A warming that has brought Antarctica to a tipping point. For such fundamental alterations to Antarctic ice are now likely to bring about a quickening rate of sea level rise the world over.

Surface Melt Visible From Satellite

During 2016-2017, Antarctic surface temperatures have ranged between 0.5 and 1 C above the already warmer than normal 1979 to 2000 average for most of Southern Hemisphere summer. And while these…