Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average

The Bellingshausen Sea is 650,000 sq kms of sea ice compared with the 1991 – 2010 average. Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute View image in fullscreen The Bellingshausen Sea is 650,000 sq kms of sea ice compared with the 1991 – 2010 average. Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average Exclusive A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Antarctica’s west coast is missing an area of winter sea ice the size of France, sparking concerns for threatened penguins other marine life and global sea levels. One expert said the loss of ice in the Bellingshausen Sea was “depressing” and the failure of ice to form could have intensified a heatwave over the continent’s peninsular last week that saw daytime temperatures peak at 15.4C which is more than 20C above average. It’s winter in Antarctica, when sea ice expands rapidly around the continent peaking in September. But satellite observations showed the Bellingshausen Sea – on the west side of the Antarctic peninsular and which by June would usually be covered by ice – was almost completely ice free. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Scientists said the region was missing about 650,000 sq kilometres (250,000 sq miles) of sea ice, compared with the average between 1991 and 2020. That is an area about the size of France and almost 10 times the size of Tasmania. “I’m concerned. It’s depressing,” said Dr Will Hobbs, an Antarctic sea ice expert at the University of Tasmania with the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership. View image in fullscreen Antarctic sea ice coverage on 10 June shows a large area in the west of missing ice when compared with the average ice extent between 1981 and 2010, shown by the orange line. Illustration: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado “It is remarkable that we are in June and there is no sea ice there.” He said this was the third time in four years that sea ice had been very low in the region. “I don’t think we will see sea ice there any more. It’s done,” he said. He said the loss of sea ice was likely linked to changes in the ocean and scientists were trying to understand if global heating was a factor. He said the region was important for krill – a critical part of the food web for species in the region. Krill would usually be hiding from predators under the ice in winter, where they graze on algae. On 10 June there was about 11.4m square kilometres of sea ice around the entire continent compared to a long-term average for that date of 12.6m sq km. Dr Phil Reid, who monitors Antarctic conditions at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, said the Bellingshausen Sea had seen “incredible coastal exposure” in winter and summer in recent years. He said just to the area’s west were the Pin