Letting Go Can Be Difficult for People, Not So For Ice Shelves

The development of the Antarctic is always frightful to inspect. With global warming and rising oceans, the speed at which the Antarctic is losing ground commonly results in fervent promises to recycle and drive less. The larger systematic destruction is something that will take most of the world to reverse. While the ice shelves are not as important as the rest of the Antarctic, they do impact the mass around them. Larsen C, the ice shelf just shy of the size of Scotland, has been cracking. Perhaps a better word than crack is chasm, as researchers are predicting that there could be a 2,316 square mile loss if the shelf splits, or the size of Delaware. Losing a large part of Larsen C has much more long term effects rather than immediate effects.

Ice shelves are already floating in the sea, so this loss will not cause a rise in sea levels. What is likely to happen, however, is that once this piece is lost, Larsen C becomes much more unstable and more likely to completely melt and disappear. Larsen B, another ice shelf similar to the ice shelf at the center of the article, went through a similar cataclysm in the 1980s. It began by losing a large part of itself, followed by little incidents until it had completely sunk. The reason this could be so disastrous is not because of the ice shelf itself, but because of the glacial ice behind it, which is not loading. It is very possible once Larsen C disappears that the ice behind it will begin to melt due to a larger flow of seawater. Researchers have given a tentative estimate of a four-inch rise in the global sea level once Larsen C is gone. Another estimate that researchers give is the age of the shelf, claiming it was around during “the last major glaciation 12,000 years ago,”  which makes it so unfortunate to lose something so ancient and part of the Earth.

Image Via Wikimedia