Larsen Ice Shelf

It is named after Captain Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the Norwegian whaling vessel Jason, who sailed along the ice front as far as 68°10' South during December 1893.[6] The ice shelf originally covered an area of 85,000 square kilometres (33,000 sq mi), but following the disintegration in the north and the break away of iceberg A-17[failed verification (See discussion.U.S. Antarctic Program scientists were in the north-western Weddell Sea investigating the sediment record in a deep glacial trough of roughly 1,000,000 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi) (twice the size of Texas or France).[9] Data collected in 2007 by an international team of investigators through satellite-based radar measurements suggests that the overall ice-sheet mass balance in Antarctica is increasingly negative.[3] From 31 January 2002 to March 2002 the Larsen B sector partially collapsed and parts broke up, 3,250 km2 (1,250 sq mi) of ice 220 m (720 ft) thick, an area comparable to the US state of Rhode Island.[15] It broke over a period of three weeks or less, with a factor in this fast break-up being the powerful effects of water; ponds of meltwater formed on the surface during the near 24 hours of daylight in the summertime, flowed down into cracks and, acting like a multitude of wedges, levered the shelf apart.[30] In June 2017 the speed of the imminent Larsen C iceberg accelerated, with the eastern end moving at 10 metres (33 ft) per day away from the main shelf.[31] As discussed by the Project MIDAS researchers on their site: "In another sign that the iceberg calving is imminent, the soon-to-be-iceberg part of Larsen C ice shelf has tripled in speed to more than 10 meters per day between 24 and 27 June 2017.[37][38] Project MIDAS updated their blog information on 19 July 2017 regarding Larsen C by revealing that a possible new rift appeared to be extending northwards from the point where A-68 had broken off in mid-July.Over roughly the past fifty years it has advanced (expanded) whereas comparable George VI, Bach, Stange, and Larsen C ice shelves have retreated (to a much greater net extent).
Location of the Antarctic Peninsula within Antarctica
Processes around an Antarctic ice shelf
An image of the collapsing Larsen B Ice Shelf and a comparison of this to the U.S. state of Rhode Island .
The collapse of Larsen B, showing the diminishing extent of the shelf from 1998 to 2002.
2016 rift in Larsen C, wide view
Four figures showing 1) how the buoyancy of an ice shelf supports the descending glacier, slowing its motion, 2) how warmer temperatures reduce the mass of the ice shelf and provide more meltwater to lubricate the glacier, causing it to move faster, 3) how a missing ice shelf leads to more rapid glacier motion and rapid calving into the sea, and 4) how this leads to a thinner glacier with a steeper surface which moves even faster
Glacier–ice shelf interactions.
The fractured berg and shelf are visible in this image acquired by the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat 8 satellite on 21 July 2017 (Lighter = warmer).
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