This NASA image was published in December. It shows an iceberg floating in McMurdo Strait, Antarctica. - Chris LARSEN / NASA / AFP

The snow on Eagle Island, located in Antarctica, lost 20% of its mass over a period of ten days, from February 4 to 13. This is revealed by NASA in a press release entitled "Antarctica melts during its hottest days ever recorded", accompanied by aerial shots of this island.

Oh, and here's a gif of the Eagle Island changes during this one, near 2-wk period. pic.twitter.com/5WdIs45t8E

- Andrew Freedman (@afreedma) February 24, 2020

This significant phenomenon of melting is due in particular to temperatures which were above the freezing point, during the period, as explained by the glaciologist Mauri Pelto, of Nichols College, in the United States, reports The HuffPost . The hottest temperature on this continent has been recorded by scientists.

"These events happen more frequently"

The phenomenon occurred on February 6, on the Argentinian base of Esperanza, a research station on the Trinidad peninsula. On that date, a temperature of 18.3 ° C was recorded. "If you think about this event in February, it is not that significant in itself," said the glaciologist. "What is more worrying is that these events occur more frequently," he added.

The last decade had already been marked by numerous heat records, with in particular the hottest year ever observed on Earth, in 2016. The decade which has just started seems to be taking the same path, since the month of January has already been the warmest ever recorded, according to reports from European and American services.

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