In just three years, the ice of Antarctica has shrunk by an area comparable to that of Mexico and is now at a record low.
Starting in 2014, the floating ice stock off the coast of Antarctica began to decline at a high rate and every year a new record low was noted. From 2014 to 2017, Antarctica as a whole lost about 800 thousand square kilometers of ice.
The Arctic, for example, has lost the same amount of ice over the past 30 years.
Another mystery is that from 1979 to 2014, the level of this very floating ice, on the contrary, steadily grew and in 2014 reached a record high, followed by an unexpectedly sharp decline.
An international team of experts, including NASA scientists, are racking their brains over this mystery.
Serrez said neither he nor other scientists yet know if this is a natural phenomenon that will soon end, or if it is a long-term consequence of global warming, which has finally reached the South Pole.
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In 2018, ice reserves in Antarctica increased slightly, but are still at very low levels.
Antarctica (left) and Arctic (right).