Satellite images reveal missing Antarctic ice the 'size of France'

Scientists say a region on the west side of Antarctica is missing a large chunk of winter sea ice "about the size of France", sparking concern it may never form again. Satellite images of the Bellingshausen Sea, which would typically be covered by ice in June, show the area is largely ice-free this year. The images reveal about 650,000 square kilometres of winter sea ice has not solidified. The Bellingshausen Sea is off the coast of West Antarctica. "It is concerning, absolutely," sea ice researcher at the University of Tasmania, Dr Will Hobbs said. "I think it's likely the ocean conditions now will not support very much winter sea ice." The extent of ice at Antarctica, as of June 11, 2026. Dr Hobbs said he has been watching the satellite images of the area daily since April and was not surprised to see this year's decline. "It's a very unusual spot oceanographically. It's relatively warm and it has an unusually close relationship with the warm ocean waters that are moving southwards, which is one of the reasons why there tends to be a lot of land ice lost there," he said. "We will probably see a little bit form this year in August and September. Some of that will be ice moving in from elsewhere but I don't think we're going to see a whole lot form there anymore." Sea ice levels in Antarctica have been changing since 2023, which recorded 1.5 million square kilometres less ice than previous years. Since then, each year has seen a different result. Dr Hobbs said Antarctic ice cover in 2023 was particularly "shocking". It was really a very big deal for sea ice research," he said. "It was really extreme low sea ice cover in winter, which was unusual. We'd had extreme low sea ice cover in summer but that was the first time in winter." Observed Antarctic sea ice extent levels, with 2026 depicted with a blue line. Dr Hobbs said the continued loss of sea ice would impact marine life, including threatened penguins that rely on it, and overall sea levels. "Sea ice is part of the ocean so it doesn't directly contribute to sea level rise but it acts as a protection on the ice shelves that do contribute to sea level," he said. "There's also potentially global impacts from what's happened here. It's not just the local environment." Antarctic sea ice breaking up in September 2023, as seen from above. Sea ice changes expected in years to come Physical oceanographer Edward Doddridge, from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Tasmania, said he was no longer surprised by sea ice loss. "It's not good news, but it has become a pattern that we're expecting now," Dr Doddridge said. "A warming world is going to have less sea ice." Dr Doddridge said there were several factors thought to be involved in why sea ice levels were changing. "As scientists, when we say something is directly caused by something we want to have all of the evidence, and all our ducks in a row," he said. "For sea ice, there has been quite a lot of work showing that warmer ocean temperatures — especially in the 100-metre to 300-metre depth range — have a really big impact on sea ice. "We don't yet have the smoking gun that can link those temperatures to the sea ice loss. "That's very much our hypothesis and we're pretty certain that it's going to be shown to be correct, but we don't have all of that evidence yet. "What we do know is that the sea ice we are seeing now and the massive losses around the West Antarctic are very consistent with what we expect to see in a warmer world because of climate change."