--- description: A polar flyover reveals the ravages of climate change title: The Great Crack-Up image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d45f1d9a7c85661/6988f89722fb8540fae246a0/paolo-pellegrin-antarctica-climate-change-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Great Crack-Up  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Jan 18, 2018 10:42 PM CUT  A crevasse measuring a few thousand feet fills the photographer's frame from an altitude of 1,500 ft., during a November flyover. A crevasse measuring a few thousand feet fills the photographer's frame from an altitude of 1,500 ft., during a November flyover.Paolo Pellegrin—Magnum Photos for TIME  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Jan 18, 2018 10:42 PM CUT It’s hard to wreck a continent you can barely get your hands on. Human beings typically do our worst environmental damage in the places we live and work–clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains. Antarctica, however, was more or less out of reach. No more. Climate change has become our species’ great destructive equalizer, leaving no part of the planet safe from the harm we do. In March 2017, the sea ice around both poles reached a record low for that time of year. In July, a 1 trillion–ton iceberg, roughly the size of Delaware, calved off of the Larsen C ice shelf in western Antarctica. The damage to the ice is being done not just from above, as the planet’s air warms, but from below, as its oceans do too. While the disappearance of Arctic sea ice is enough of an environmental calamity, it’s the ice that covers Antarctica that is a bigger real menace… **Read the full story** [**here**](http://time.com/antarctica-climate-change/ "undefined")**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5107484/the-great-crack-up/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5107484/the-great-crack-up/"},"headline":"The Great Crack-Up","datePublished":"2018-01-18T22:42:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:54:54.530Z","description":"A polar flyover reveals the ravages of climate change","url":"https://time.com/5107484/the-great-crack-up/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d45f1d9a7c85661/6988f89722fb8540fae246a0/paolo-pellegrin-antarctica-climate-change-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d45f1d9a7c85661/6988f89722fb8540fae246a0/paolo-pellegrin-antarctica-climate-change-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"paolo-pellegrin-antarctica-climate-change-1","caption":"paolo-pellegrin-antarctica-climate-change","creditText":"Paolo Pellegrin—Magnum Photos for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5107484/the-great-crack-up/","name":"The Great Crack-Up"}}]}] ```