Large Antarctic ice shelf on verge of collapse

Latest sign of global warming’s impact shocks scientists

 Per MSNBC, Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events.

Glaciologist Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado was monitoring satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and spotted a huge iceberg measuring 25 miles by 1.5 miles that appeared to have broken away from the shelf.

Scambos alerted colleagues at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) that it looked like the entire ice shelf — about 6,180 square miles (about the size of Northern Ireland)— was at risk of collapsing.

Melting in the Antarctic is different than the recent record melt in the Arctic. Antarctica is composed of ice sheets, or huge masses of ice up to 2.5 miles thick that lie on top of bedrock and flow toward the coast, and ice shelves, the floating extensions of ice sheets. Arctic ice is primarily sea ice, some of which persists year-round and some of which melts in the summer and freezes again in the winter.

See the complete article at this link…. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23797247/

Similar Posts:

• Massive Canadian Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Off
• AFP - Global Warming Time Bomb in Arctic Soil
• Plastic Bag Industry fights Bans on bags

Filed under: Climate Change