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Update Date: 2008/03/26 19:35 by Cao Yufan
(AFP Washington, 26th)
Satellite images provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado show that the massive "Wilkins Ice Shelf" in Antarctica has begun to disintegrate under the influence of global warming.
On February 28th this year, an iceberg measuring 41 kilometers in length and 2.4 kilometers in width broke away from the southwestern side of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, causing a large section of the shelf to collapse.
Scientists say this break has led to the internal disintegration of the ice shelf, with an area of 414 square kilometers lost so far.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a vast permanent floating ice field located about 1,609 kilometers south of South America, on the southwestern part of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Scientists indicate that due to recent losses, a significant portion of the current 12,950 square kilometers of the ice shelf is supported by a narrow ice corridor, 5.6 kilometers long, between two islands.
Ted Scambos, the lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, stated in a declaration: "If it melts a little more, this last ice pillar may collapse, and we could lose an area equivalent to half of the ice shelf in the coming years."
David Vaughan from the British Antarctic Survey echoed Scambos's statement: "So far, the Wilkins Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf under threat in West Antarctica. It is in a precarious position." The information about this collapse was provided by this observatory.
Over the past half-century, the most dramatic increase in surface temperature has been in the western part of the Antarctic Peninsula, with an increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade.
Scambos, the first expert to discover this ice shelf disintegration, said: "We believe the Wilkins Ice Shelf has been in this location for at least several hundred years, but warm air and contact with ocean tides have triggered the disintegration."
As the Antarctic summer nears its end, scientists predict that the ice shelf will not further disintegrate in the coming months.
Scambos said: "The unusual phenomena of this season have ended. But starting next January, we will observe whether the Wilkins Ice Shelf continues to disintegrate."
Over the past fifty years, 13,000 square kilometers of ice shelves have disintegrated in Antarctica, and such disintegration could significantly raise global sea levels.
In 1995, the Larsen A Ice Shelf, measuring 75 kilometers in length and 35 kilometers in width, disintegrated, breaking into several icebergs scattered across the Weddell Sea.
In March 2002, a NASA satellite captured the disintegration of the Larsen B Ice Shelf. With a surface area of 3,850 square kilometers and a height of 200 meters, it was a massive ice block weighing 720 billion tons, but it disintegrated within thirty days.
According to some current statistics based on a sea level rise of 3 millimeters per year, sea levels could rise by up to 1.4 meters by the end of this century.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 080326/ 19/ w4zm. html
Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses amid Global Warming
(AFP Washington, 26th)
Satellite images provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado show that the massive "Wilkins Ice Shelf" in Antarctica has begun to disintegrate under the influence of global warming.
On February 28th this year, an iceberg measuring 41 kilometers in length and 2.4 kilometers in width broke away from the southwestern side of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, causing a large section of the shelf to collapse.
Scientists say this break has led to the internal disintegration of the ice shelf, with an area of 414 square kilometers lost so far.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a vast permanent floating ice field located about 1,609 kilometers south of South America, on the southwestern part of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Scientists indicate that due to recent losses, a significant portion of the current 12,950 square kilometers of the ice shelf is supported by a narrow ice corridor, 5.6 kilometers long, between two islands.
Ted Scambos, the lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, stated in a declaration: "If it melts a little more, this last ice pillar may collapse, and we could lose an area equivalent to half of the ice shelf in the coming years."
David Vaughan from the British Antarctic Survey echoed Scambos's statement: "So far, the Wilkins Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf under threat in West Antarctica. It is in a precarious position." The information about this collapse was provided by this observatory.
Over the past half-century, the most dramatic increase in surface temperature has been in the western part of the Antarctic Peninsula, with an increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade.
Scambos, the first expert to discover this ice shelf disintegration, said: "We believe the Wilkins Ice Shelf has been in this location for at least several hundred years, but warm air and contact with ocean tides have triggered the disintegration."
As the Antarctic summer nears its end, scientists predict that the ice shelf will not further disintegrate in the coming months.
Scambos said: "The unusual phenomena of this season have ended. But starting next January, we will observe whether the Wilkins Ice Shelf continues to disintegrate."
Over the past fifty years, 13,000 square kilometers of ice shelves have disintegrated in Antarctica, and such disintegration could significantly raise global sea levels.
In 1995, the Larsen A Ice Shelf, measuring 75 kilometers in length and 35 kilometers in width, disintegrated, breaking into several icebergs scattered across the Weddell Sea.
In March 2002, a NASA satellite captured the disintegration of the Larsen B Ice Shelf. With a surface area of 3,850 square kilometers and a height of 200 meters, it was a massive ice block weighing 720 billion tons, but it disintegrated within thirty days.
According to some current statistics based on a sea level rise of 3 millimeters per year, sea levels could rise by up to 1.4 meters by the end of this century.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 080326/ 19/ w4zm. html