Scientists warn glacier vanished faster than any other in modern history

By Stephen Beech

An Antarctic glacier retreated faster than any other in modern history, reveals new research.

Half of the glacier – five miles of ice – disintegrated in just two months, say scientists.

A new study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience , details how and why the Hektoria Glacier on Antarctica’s Eastern Peninsula retreated at an “unprecedented” rate in 2023.

American scientists believe the “main driver” was the glacier’s underlying flat bedrock that enabled it to go afloat after it substantially thinned, causing a rare calving process.

They explained that Hektoria Glacier is small by Antarctic standards at about 115 square miles, or roughly the size of Philadelphia.

But a similar rapid retreat on larger Antarctic glaciers could have “catastrophic” implicati