Overview

• The study finds that glacier area on Heard Island declined by 64 square kilometres over 1947–2019, with the annual rate of ice loss doubling after 1988.
• Stephenson Glacier on the island’s eastern flank has retreated nearly 6 kilometres since 1947, shedding ice at an average rate of 178 metres per year over the past 20 years.
• On Laurens Peninsula small glaciers contracted from 10.5 to 2.2 square kilometres and may have disappeared entirely in recent years.
• Two RSV Nuyina voyages set for late September and December mark the first Australian Antarctic Program visits to Heard and McDonald islands in almost 20 years with glaciology, biodiversity and modeling teams aboard.
• Scientists warn that newly exposed land could allow invasive species to establish and alter breeding sites for seabirds and seals, highlighting the need for robust emission pathway scenarios to protect the ecosystem.