Massive Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses As Experts Blame Global Warming

Washington D.C. (AHN) - New satellite images from western Antarctica reveal that a massive ice chunk, the size of about 169 square miles, has collapsed, likely a direct result of global warming. The disintegration of the ice chunk, about seven times the size of Manhattan, has also put a larger portion of glacial ice at risk.

Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement, "The collapse underscores that the [Wilkins Ice Shelf] region has experienced an intense melt season. Regional sea ice has all but vanished, leaving the ice shelf exposed to the action of waves."

The collapse of the shelf of coastal ice began on February 28 at the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for a pretty long time. Scientists now say that there are chances the Wilkins Ice Shelf, the largest ice shelf on West Antarctica could itself collapse in 15 years.

The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice. As the weather in the Southern Hemisphere gets warmer in summers, there are chances that the shelf would disintegrate further.

Scientists attribute the ice shelf collapses to global warming, which has increased mean temperatures in the Antarctic by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. Larsen B, a 1,254-square-mile ice shelf, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island, collapsed in 2002, the British Antarctic Survey said.

Melting ice shelves do not pose a threat to raise the worldwide sea level as this ice is already floating on the ocean. However, if the glaciers behind them start disintegrating into the sea more quickly, that will have an impact on sea levels.