Larsen Ice Shelf

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Larsen Ice Shelf

one of the largest ice shelves in Antarctica. The Larsen Ice Shelf forms the eastern ice bank of the Antarctic Peninsula for a distance of more than 800 km (between 64.5° and 72.5° S lat.). Its greatest width is about 200 km; its area is about 86,000 sq km. On the east it is blockaded year-round by the drifting ice of the Weddell Sea. The Argentine Teniente Matienzo scientific station has been in operation in the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf since 1961. The shelf was named in honor of its discoverer (1893), C. Larsen.

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ONE of the largest icebergs ever recorded has just broken away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Because despite the media and public fascination, the Larsen C rift and iceberg "calving" is not a warning of imminent sea level rise, and any link to climate change is far from straightforward.

No climate-change panic, iceberg calving is a natural phenomenon; When a colossal iceberg breaks off an Antarctica ice shelf it's not a simple story of climate change, says Swansea Professor Adrian Luckman..

The Larsen C ice shelf, the fourth-largest in Antarctica, has attracted (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40113393) worldwide attention in the lead-up to calving an iceberg one-tenth of its area 6 or about half the area of greater Melbourne.

But there is valid concern among scientists that the entire Larsen C ice shelf could become unstable, and eventually break up entirely, with knock-on effects that could take decades to play out.

How Glaciers After Huge Antarctica Iceberg Will Affect The Sea Level

Satellite images reveal that a crack in Larsen C rapidly extended tens of kilometers across the ice shelf in 2014.

Lead author Daniela Jansen, a glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, expects that the crack will chip apart Larsen C within five years.

Crack threatens Antarctic ice shelf: Larsen C could shed massive section within next few years

Because, despite the media and public fascination, the Larsen C rift and iceberg "calving" is not a warning of imminent sea level rise, and any link to climate change is far from straightforward.

However the (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/271/5250/788) sudden disintegrations of Larsen A and B in 1995 and 2002 respectively, and the (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2004GL020697/abstract) ongoing speed-up of glaciers which fed them, focused scientific interest on their much larger neighbour, Larsen C, the fourth biggest ice shelf in Antarctica.

Why The Massive Antarctica Iceberg May Not Be Due To Climate Change

Satellite observations collected between 1992 and 2001 suggest that the upper surface of the Larsen C ice shelf dropped as much as 27 centimeters per year during the period.

Ocean maybe melting ice shelf from below

In the days leading up to President Donald Trump's announcement on whether or not he will continue the participation of the United States in the Paris Climate Agreement, a crack in the Larsen C Ice Shelf has rapidly expanded.

The Larsen Ice Shelf Is About To Lose A Chunk Of Ice The Size Of Delaware

Stunning video footage of an enormous crack in the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica was released this week by the (https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/new-footage-shows-rift-in-larsen-c-ice-shelf/) British Antarctic Survey.

Stunning Video Shows Iceberg Size of Delaware Ready To Break Off Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica

The enormous piece of ice, almost the size of the state of Delaware, will soon break off of the Larsen C ice shelf after a rift rapidly grew in December.