News Climate

Ancient penguin bones reveal unprecedented shrinkage in key Antarctic glaciers

Thwaites Glacier is losing ice more quickly than at any other time in the last 5,500 years

Satellite image of an Antarctic glacier shedding ice into Pine Island Bay

Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica, shown in February of 2020 shedding ice into Pine Island Bay, may be retreating at an unprecedented rate.

Nasa Earth Observatory, USGS

By Douglas Fox

Antarctica’s Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are losing ice more quickly than they have at any time in the last few thousand years, ancient penguin bones and limpet shells suggest.