Part of Antarctic ice shelf is disintegrating (2008.03.25)
Video Info
Description:
Professor David Vaughan of BAS said: "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.
"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."
Professor Vaughan predicted in 1993 that the northern part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf would be lost within 30 years if climate warming continued. But he said it is happening more quickly than he expected.
"What we're actually seeing is a chunk of the ice shelf drop off in a way that suggests it is not just a normal part of iceberg formation.
"This is not a sea level rise issue, but is yet another indication of climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula and how it is affecting the environment."
Several ice shelves have retreated in the past 30 years - six of them collapsing completely.
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7313264.stm
More:
2008.03.25. Press Release - University of Colorado at Boulder:
Antarctic ice shelf disintegrating as result of climate change, say scientists
http://www.physorg.com/news125674872.html
2008.03.25.
Press Release - British Antarctic Survey:
Antarctic ice shelf 'hangs by a thread'
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/press/press_releases/press_release.php?id=376
2008.03.25.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center:
Antarctic Ice Shelf Disintegration Underscores a Warming World
http://nsidc.org/news/press/20080325_Wilkins.html
2008.03.25.
ScienceDaily:
Huge Iceberg Breaks Away, Antarctic Ice Shelf 'Hangs By A Thread'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325120714.htm
