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Seriously concerning information was made public this week, as researchers in the United States, Britain and Taiwan released images of large blocks of ice shearing away from the shelf along the West Antarctic Peninsula.
”In 1993, we predicted that this was going to be a vulnerable ice shelf,” Professor David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey recently said about the Wilkins Ice Shelf. ”But we got the time scales completely wrong. We were saying 30 years at that time, and now it's happened within 15.” The first proof of this prediction was recorded in February, when a 26-mile-long iceberg broke away from the ice mass.
Since it started being monitored, the shelf has lost three percent of its total extent. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. The rest of the Wilkins Ice Shelf is kept in place by a narrow portion of thin ice and things aren’t looking up.
"Climate warming in the Antarctic Peninsula has pushed the limit of viability for ice shelves further south – setting some of them that used to be stable on a course of retreat and eventual loss. The Wilkins breakout won't have any effect on sea-level because it is floating already, but it is another indication of the impact that climate change is having on the region," said Vaughan.
Scientists all over the world are monitoring these sensitive areas with the use of satellites and on-site studies, gathering data on snowfall, ice loss, air and water temperatures, populations of animals and others.
The breakout is the latest drama in a region of Antarctica that has experienced unprecedented warming over the last 50 years. Several ice shelves have retreated in the past 30 years - six of them collapsing completely (Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf.)
However, no immediate solution for global warming, which is considered to be the cause of these ice breaks, was found. The effort must be done globally and the major industial players must become fully aware of the very delicate state Earth’s vulnerable environment is in and take action.
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