In a recently released study by NASA, they report that the remnants of the Antarctic ice shelf, Larson B, are ready to crumble and travel into the ocean at any time.
More Bad News for Antarctic Ice Shelves
Earlier this week, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey announced that the huge Larsen C ice shelf has a large rift growing across it and that it is melting from warm water below and warm air above. They said that the ice is beginning to honeycomb, making it extremely unstable. Ice shelf Larsen C is about the size of Scotland.
A large portion of ice shelf Larsen B the size of the state of Rhode Island, already dropped off and travelled away in 2002. However, there were 618-square miles of the ice shelf Larsen B left behind and NASA reports that it will also fall some time in the next 10 years.
Results of Ice Shelf Larsen B Study
This new study was released by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA and the University of California at Irvine, in the recent issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters. In addition, a separate release from NASA stated that the ice shelf would probably completely disintegrate prior to the end of 2020.
Ice shelf Larsen B is part of the Antarctic Peninsula that extents northward from the continent toward the tip of South America. The study was carried out through measurements taken by satellites and planes, and they show a persistent flow of ice acceleration since 2002 and a large crack moving across what is left of the shelf.
Glaciers Behind Ice Shelves Cause Sea Level Rise
The loss of ice shelf Larsen B or even the larger Larson ice shelf C will not contribute directly to rising sea levels. They are already anchored in the ocean and are completely made of ice. However, what happens is that when the ice shelves are gone, glaciers on land behind them accelerate and release their ice into the ocean, causing it to rise. The moving glaciers are what would result in substantial sea level increases. When land-based ice enters the ocean, the sea level will rise.
Land-based glaciers have already started sliding faster toward to ocean. The Flask and Leppard glaciers have been moving at an accelerated rate. According to the study, the elevation of the glaciers has dropped 49 to 65 feet from 2002 to 2011.
Lead author of the study, Ala Khazendar, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, states that what will happen is the acceleration of iceberg calving and then eventually, when a very warm summer comes along, the entire ice shelf Larson B will finally give way and shatter into thousands of smaller icebergs.
In essence, the weakened, ocean-based ice shelf Larson B’s travel is being pushed by the land-based glaciers behind it, causing enhanced fracturing and widening of the large crack in the area where it is moored to the seafloor.
