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Fires in the Amazon forest may melt sea ice in Antarctica

Soot traveling in atmospheric corridors could have darkened the sea ice, boosting its melting 

An aerial view of flat-topped icebergs floating in the dark waters off the coast of Antarctica, with fragmented sea ice covering the surrounding area.

Antarctica’s Weddell Sea (pictured) saw particularly large sea ice loss between 2018 and 2019 — loss that may be linked to increased soot in the atmosphere from fires in the Amazon.

John Sonntag/NASA

By Meghie Rodrigues

Soot from forest fires in the Amazon might play a role in the melting of faraway ice in Antarctica.