Scientists with the university’s National Seismological Center said the small quakes — including one stronger shake of magnitude 6 — were detected in the Bransfield Strait, a 96-kilometer-wide ocean channel between the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. “It’s a 20-fold increase… which suggests that right this minute…the Shetland Islands are separating more quickly from the Antarctic Peninsula,” said Sergio Barrientos, the center’s director. The peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth, and scientists closely monitor the changing climate’s impact on its icebergs and glaciers. An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 jolted South Shetland Islands at 11:49 a.m. local time on November 6, the US Geological Survey said. The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands lie about 120 kilometers north of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Source: Manila Times December 18, 2020 15:00 UTC