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Battering storms caused Antarctic sea ice to shrink at record pace

Extreme weather pattern led to daily loss of nearly South Carolina‒sized chunk

Antarctica

MAJOR MELTDOWN  Southern Ocean storms in 2016 brought intense, warm winds that broke up Antarctica’s fragile sea ice and hastened its usual springtime melting.

NASA ICE/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

By Maria Temming

- More than 2 years ago

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Unusually severe storms in 2016 wrought the quickest meltdown of Antarctic sea ice ever seen during a Southern Hemisphere spring.