Floating ice in Antarctica has shrunk by an area the size of Mexico

in 3 years

Scientists are baffled by the dramatic thawing after decades of growth

Antarctica lost an area of sea ice the size of Mexico in the three years from 2014 after a “precipitous” decline that wiped out 35 years of gradual growth.

Scientists said the thawing meant that Antarctic sea ice had reduced by almost as much in those three years as the Arctic lost in three decades.

The findings add to the mystery of the continent’s response to climate change, after more than three decades in which rather than losing sea ice it gained it.