Scientists have recorded the Hektoria glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula retreating 25 kilometres in just 15 months, the quickest in modern history. This rapid collapse, up to 10 times faster than previous records, raises concerns for other glaciers and global sea level rise. The event began in early 2022 with the disintegration of stabilizing ice.
The Hektoria glacier's dramatic retreat started in early 2022, when a mass of sea ice detached from its front and the floating ice tongue disintegrated. This exposed the glacier to new stresses, accelerating its flow and thinning rates. The most significant changes occurred over an ice plain, a flat seabed area where the glacier's trunk thinned dramatically and went afloat almost instantaneously, leading to its break-up.
Buoyant forces ripped away icebergs, generating 'glacial earthquakes' detected by seismic sensors. The glacier lost 8 km in length during November and December 2022 alone. Naomi Ochwat at the University of Colorado Boulder and her colleagues attribute this to a vulnerability in the glacier's configuration, triggering a runaway surge in iceberg production.
Ochwat questions whether this was a unique 'perfect storm' or a potential 'recipe for disaster' elsewhere, warning of implications for sea level rise. Team member Ted Scambos described the fracturing as 'shocking' and said it 'changes what's possible' for other Antarctic glaciers.
However, the analysis has sparked controversy. Frazer Christie of Airbus Defence and Space notes 'significant disagreement' in the glaciological community about where the glacier was fully grounded, due to limited high-accuracy satellite records. Anna Hogg at the University of Leeds states her team's measurements showed the ice above the ice plain was always 'fully floating', ruling out a buoyancy-driven collapse. Christine Batchelor at Newcastle University is sceptical, suggesting that if the section was floating, the event amounts to the less unusual 'ice shelf calves icebergs'.
The findings are published in Nature Geoscience (DOI: 10.1038/s41561-025-01802-4).