stan van houcke: Sudden collapse of Antarctic ice shelf could be sign of things to come

zaterdag 26 maart 2022

Sudden collapse of Antarctic ice shelf could be sign of things to come

*This Sentinel-1A satellite image shows the C-38 iceberg on March 17, 2022. The iceberg broke off from the Conger Ice Shelf. (Image credit: USNIC)*

A massive Antarctic ice shelf that covered an area about the size of New York City or Rome just collapsed into the ocean. Scientists warn that while they do not expect significant impacts as a result of this event, melting ice in this historically stable region may be a foreboding sign of things to come.

Satellite photos reveal the sudden disappearance of the Conger Ice Shelf on East Antarctica between March 14 and March 16. "The Glenzer Conger Ice Shelf presumably had been there for thousands of years and it's not ever going to be there again," University of Minnesota glaciologist Peter Neff told NPR. While the Ice shelf had been slowly shrinking since the 1970s, recently accelerated melting preceded this month's sudden and unexpected collapse.

Antarctica is divided into East and West Antarctica, with the Transantarctic Mountain Range separating the two halves. In West Antarctica, the ice is more unstable than in the east, so melting ice and collapsing ice shelves are often observed.

However, East Antarctica is one of the coldest and driest locations on planet Earth, and because of this, ice shelf collapses are unheard-of there. According to the AP, this is the first major ice shelf collapse in East Antarctica during human history.

https://www.livescience.com/antarctica-conger-ice-shelf-collapse?utm_source=notification