Antarctic Ice Shelves
- POSTED ON: 14 Jul, 2017
- TOTAL VIEWS: 1812 Views
- POSTED BY: Chari Vijayaraghavan
- ARTICLE POINTS: 100 Points
A huge chunk of ice that measures about a trillion tonnes and that had been slowly separating from an Antarctic ice shelf broke free this week. To understand the glaciers and ice-shelves of Antarctica better, have a look at where they are located. Click on the hotspots to know more.
What happened recently was the cracking of the Larsen C ice-shelf which had been imminent for quite a while. Move the slider from right to left to understand how deep the crack had gone from 2009 to 2016. And finally, in July 2017, it gave way.
Also seen below is the satellite image taken by NASA last year, indicating what to watch out for. Reveals quite a bit doesn’t it?
So how did this happen? Well, it is a combination of increase in temperatures, warm water currents, and also small pools and lakes being formed on Antarctica which tend to absorb the sunlight rather than reflect them like ice normally does. So, the more pools and lakes that get formed, the more the temperature of the ice sheet. This slowly percolates and melts through the thick layer until it completely cracks. Here’s a diagram describing the same.
This is bound to continue as a side effect of climate change and global warming and we need to try our best to control what we can.
Image Sources and Credits : Wikimedia Commons | NASA