Overview
- Peer‑reviewed research in Nature Geoscience confirms Hektoria lost about 8 kilometers of ice in roughly two months, stripping nearly half its area at the peak of its 2023 retreat.
- Analysis shows the glacier thinned onto a flat subglacial ice plain, went afloat inboard of the former grounding line, and rapidly calved as bottom‑up crevasses connected with surface fractures.
- Multiple satellite datasets resolved several grounding lines and high‑frequency changes in the ice front, while seismic records captured glacier earthquakes that coincided with the calving sequence.
- Across February 2022 to August 2023 the glacier retreated about 25 kilometers, with peak daily rates reaching roughly 800 meters during the most extreme phase.
- Scientists say Hektoria is small at around 295 square kilometers, yet the same mechanism could act on far larger Antarctic glaciers such as Thwaites, underscoring the need for targeted monitoring and improved sea‑level projections.