Antarctica's Hektoria Glacier lost 15 miles of length in just 15 months, marking the fastest retreat of grounded ice observed in modern times. The collapse unfolded between early 2022 and spring 2023 on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula.
The glacier's rapid retreat began after the 2002 collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf removed a stabilizing barrier. In January 2022, landfast sea ice in the embayment broke apart, allowing the floating ice tongue to calve repeatedly through the austral summer and retreat roughly 16 kilometers. The glacier briefly stabilized during the 2022 winter but continued thinning beneath the surface.