Small Swirling Ocean Eddies Contribute to One-Fifth of Antarctic Ice Shelf Melt Each Year

Nature Geoscience, 18 November 2025

Small underwater eddies contribute to nearly a fifth of total Antarctic ice shelf melting each season, but during extreme events this submarine melting can increase by as much as three-fold within hours as warm water penetrates beneath the ice. Similar to hurricanes and other large storms generated in the open ocean, these swirling eddies grow larger as they approach ice shelves and can cause substantial damage. A high-resolution ocean model in the Amundsen Sea Embayment finds that these small-scale ocean circulation patterns are intensified by ice shelf melting, creating positive feedbacks that increase ocean turbulence and ice shelf loss. The study highlights the importance of including these short-term, “weather-like” ocean processes in climate models and developing more observational tools to better anticipate future ice shelf stability.

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