News Climate

An unexpected ice collapse hints at worrying changes on the Antarctic coast

East Antarctica was considered stable. The Conger ice shelf’s 2022 collapse changed the story

The former Conger ice shelf is shown as a white mass on Earth's face from space.

The sudden collapse in March 2022 of Antarctica’s Conger ice shelf into icebergs (shown) surprised many, because it sat in an area that was widely considered to be stable.

Lauren Dauphin, NASA Earth Observatory

By Douglas Fox

A hot spot is starting to form along the coast of East Antarctica.