Vega Island shows bare ice after winter 2026

NASA reported on Friday 30 October 2026 that an October 2026 image showed snow absent from large areas of Vega Island in the Antarctic Peninsula. Above-average temperatures in winter 2026, particularly in June, were partly responsible for the bare ice.

Landsat 9 imagery shows the island at the start of austral autumn and in spring. The OLI, or Operational Land Imager, acquired the images on March 22, 2025, and October 10, 2026, respectively. Clouds obscured the island in March 2026.

Ice, rock outcrops and glacial moraines on Vega Island create the appearance of a skull in profile looking toward Devil Island. A nunatak resembles an eye socket, a lateral moraine forms a mouth and Bahía del Diablo, or Devil’s Bay, Glacier forms a jawbone. Snow covered the ice in the March 2025 image.

Glaciologist Mauri Pelto of Nichols College said the exposed ice indicated limited new snow accumulation over the winter. Sublimation and wind scouring further reduced the snow. Pelto said the exposed areas showed that Vega Island and nearby islands had less snow cover.

NASA said bare ice is darker than snow and absorbs more solar energy. Melting is poised to speed up as days grow longer and warmer. Pelto said even a thin cover of new snow from a spring storm would help preserve the skull-like appearance in the short run. Exposure to melt would change its jawline and expand its eye socket.

A study published in 1982 described Vega Island’s four ice caps and used early Landsat observations, aerial photos and topographic maps to catalog 29 glaciers. Devil’s Bay Glacier has been monitored since the austral summer of 1998-1999, and researchers have measured an overall decline in its mass. Satellite images have also shown ice loss from other glaciers on the island.