 The Wilkins Ice Shelf is another example of the effects of global warming. In 1993 Professor David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey predicted the northern part of the Wilkins shelf would likely be lost within 30 years if climate warming continued at the same rate. In March 2008, a 405-square-kilometre chunk of the shelf disintegrated.
Those kind of global changes and seeing the threatened beauty of the Antarctic have confirmed in William Millar's mind that environmental science will remain a part of his future.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is at risk of partly breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula as the ice bridge that connects it to Charcot and Latady Islands looks set to collapse. The beginning of what appears to be the demise of the ice bridge began this week when new rifts forming along its center axis resulted in a large block of ice breaking away.
By acquiring daily images of Antarctica that are easily accessible to scientists, ASAR has provided an unprecedented time series of the recent break-up events and allowed scientists to continuously monitor these developments to better understand the break-up process of ice shelves.
Many changes occurred to the ice shelf in 2008, as witnessed by Envisat. In late February, 425 sq km of ice calved away, narrowing the ice bridge down to a 6-km strip. At the end of May a 160-sq-km chunk of ice broke away and reduced the ice bridge to just 2.7 km, leaving it only 900 m wide at its narrowest location.
"In the past months, we have observed the ice bridge deforming and its narrowest location acting as a kind of hinge," Humbert saidLabels: antarctica, global warming, wilkins ice shelf |
