Antarctic ice shelf thinning from above and below

Antarctic ice shelf thinning from above and below
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Highlights

Providing fresh insights into assessing Antarctica\'s likely contribution to future sea-level rise, a new study says that the Larsen C Ice Shelf, whose neighbours Larsen A and B, collapsed in 1995 and 2002, respectively is thinning from both its surface and beneath.

London: Providing fresh insights into assessing Antarctica's likely contribution to future sea-level rise, a new study says that the Larsen C Ice Shelf, whose neighbours Larsen A and B, collapsed in 1995 and 2002, respectively is thinning from both its surface and beneath.


Scientists were unable to determine whether it is warming air temperatures or warmer ocean currents that is causing the Antarctic Peninsula's floating ice shelves to lose volume and become more vulnerable to collapse.The team combined satellite data and eight radar surveys captured during a 15-year period from 1998 to 2012.


Larsen C Ice Shelf lost an average of four metres of ice, and had lowered by an average of one metre at the surface.The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, with a temperature rise of 2.5 degrees Celsius over the last 50 years.

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