By contrast, other ice shelf breakups have caused huge speed increases in their glaciers, as much as eight-fold in one Antarctic breakup, that of the Larsen B ice shelf.
OO NASA Photo Reveals A Startling 300-Foot-Wide Rift In Antarctic Ice Shelf The breakup of the massive Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica is getting closer and will eventually produce an iceberg the size of Delaware prowling the Southern Ocean, according to new NASA data.
Much of this increase has been attributed to the breakup of ice shelves along certain parts of the Antarctic coast, especially on the Antarctic Peninsula since the 1990s.
Dr. Box said that newly retrieved data show that the breakup of the ice shelf had not caused Petermann Glacier to speed up notably.
The loss of the ice bridge could mean a wider breakup of the ice shelf, which is about the size of Connecticut.
The scientists who observed the breakup of the Markham Ice Shelf estimated that almost one-quarter of Canada's shelf ice had melted this year.
The breakup of the Petermann ice shelf fits into a broader picture.
Above, we reproduce two shots looking up the fjord toward the front of the ice shelf, one taken in 2009 before the breakup, and another taken just over a month ago.
For example, the geologic record in which thick sequences of continental shelf sediments were deposited demonstrates that the breakup of Pangea resulted in the flooding of continental margins, indicating a rise in sea level.
Related sites Images of the 2002 breakup of the Larsen Ice Shelf National Snow and Ice Data Center International Polar Year Web site.
