- Oct 17, 2011
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An ice shelf in Antarctica nearly the size of Los Angeles disintegrated in mid-March within days of extraordinary warmth on the continent, scientists say.
The Conger Ice Shelf, spanning approximately 460 square miles, collapsed around March 15. It was around the time temperatures soared to minus-12 degrees Celsius, more than 40 degrees warmer than normal, at the Concordia research station.
Ice shelves like the Conger are extensions of land-based ice sheets and glaciers that jut out over the ocean. They help prevent those ice sheets from feeding ice unabated into the ocean.
"Conger is a very small ice shelf which has been decreasing in size for many years and this was just the final step which caused it to collapse."
[But this] could be a preview of what's to come as the climate crisis eats away at the continent.
see also
The Conger Ice Shelf, spanning approximately 460 square miles, collapsed around March 15. It was around the time temperatures soared to minus-12 degrees Celsius, more than 40 degrees warmer than normal, at the Concordia research station.
Ice shelves like the Conger are extensions of land-based ice sheets and glaciers that jut out over the ocean. They help prevent those ice sheets from feeding ice unabated into the ocean.
"Conger is a very small ice shelf which has been decreasing in size for many years and this was just the final step which caused it to collapse."
[But this] could be a preview of what's to come as the climate crisis eats away at the continent.
see also
