Huge Ice Shelf Is A Few Days Away From Collapsing
By Nick April 11, 2008
According to the British Antarctic Survey, the Wilkins Ice Shelf is disintegrating, as an iceberg seven times the size of Manhattan is breaking away from it. Professor David Vaughan of the BAS said that ‘the ice shelf is hanging by a thread’, as there is just a portion less than 4 miles long that keeps the iceberg attached to the Antarctic continent.
Wilkins is one of the largest northern ice shelves, with a surface of 5,282 square miles. Although the iceberg is very big, this breakup is not expected to raise the sea level, because it is floating already. The Wilkins ice shelf is believed to be at least a few hundred years old, but is already the largest victim of global warming so far.
Jim Elliott was sent with a Twin Otter aircraft to capture images of the process, after researchers were amazed by the satellite photos showing how the ice was melting with each day passing by. He was impressed by what he described as ‘big hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses’ that looked like they just got out of an explosion.
Topics: Dangers |
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