An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to an island in Antarctica has snapped.
Scientists suggest the collapse could mean that the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and that it provides evidence of global warming.
The shelf has been retreating since the 1990s, but scientists say this is the first time it has lost one of the connections that keeps it in place.
It broke off at the thinnest point of the 40-km (25-mile) strip of ice.
A European Space Agency satellite picture shows newly created icebergs floating in the sea on the western side of the Antarctic peninsula, which juts up from the continent towards South America’s southern tip.
Source: BBC – Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic
A BBC story……oh please not a another Al Gore “the earth has a fever” story
Please keep an open mind about this topic. Here are a few sites you might
want to read to get a different perspective. thanks
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/a_new_record_for_antartic_total_ice_extent
http://www.iceagenow.com/Antarctic_Ice_Cap_Growing_Thicker.htm
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/environment/waterworld.html
@Tim – guess there are always two sides to any story – I was more interested in the fact that a chunk of ice the size of Jamaica was capable of breaking free from Antarctica.
Thanks for the links, will check them out.