We talked last week about the heatwave that struck eastern Antarctica, bringing warm weather unlike any previously observed. To kick off this week, news that a massive ice shelf in that region has collapsed – the first to collapse in more than 4 decades of satellite observations. The Conger Ice Shelf spans about 1,200 square km (aka the size of New York), and officials say it shattered off the continent on 15 March. Why is this important? Well, ice shelves surrounding Antarctica protect ice sheets and glaciers on the continent. If the shelves give way, it creates a path for ice streams from surrounding glaciers to spill into the ocean and contribute to sea-level rises. And to give you a sense of the region’s importance, if all of eastern Antarctica’s ice were to melt, it would raise sea levels by more than 30m. That can’t ever be allowed to happen… But Conger “is just a little guy without too much punch,” said NASA scientist Catherine Colello Walker. “But the process is important to study so we know what to expect for the bigger ones.”