ice shelf

13 Stories

Fresh Iceberg Looks Strangely Rectangular
This Iceberg Looks
a Little Unusual

This Iceberg Looks a Little Unusual

NASA takes image of a rectangular iceberg believed to have come from Antarctic ice shelf

(Newser) - As far as icebergs go, this one is oddly perfect. NASA has shared a photo of a rectangular iceberg floating in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica, its flat top and straight edges appearing so exact as to suggest Mother Nature used a saw, per CTV News . The BBC explains that...

He Improbably Survived. Now, a Hunt for the Ship That Didn't

Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance is thought to be in 10K feet of water off Antarctica

(Newser) - Sir Ernest Shackleton's doomed ship slumbers beneath nearly 10,000 feet of water—and a group of scientists now hopes to find it. The BBC reports on the planned January 2019 mission, whose true intention is to study the Antarctic's Larsen C Ice Shelf. But its position near...

Antarctica About to Lose 1 of Biggest Icebergs Ever

A 124-mile-long ice crack grew more than 10 miles over just 6 days

(Newser) - Experts say one of the biggest icebergs in recorded history—it would be about the size of Delaware—is "very close" to separating from Antarctica, USA Today reports. According to the BBC , a 124-mile-long crack on the Larsen C Ice Shelf grew more than 10 miles over just six...

Delaware-Sized Iceberg Clings to Shelf by 'a Thread'

It's expected to break off Larsen C within months

(Newser) - A chunk of ice the size of Delaware is clinging to an Antarctic ice shelf by "a thread" that could snap at any moment and create one of the 10 largest icebergs ever recorded, researchers say. Following the collapse of the nearby Larsen A ice shelf in the Weddell...

Last Stable Part of Greenland Ice Sheet No Longer Stable

It's losing 10B tons of ice every year

(Newser) - A startling change uncovered in the world's second-largest ice sheet means rising sea levels are set to accelerate, researchers warn. A new study finds that the northeast Greenland ice sheet, once thought to be the only remaining stable part of the ice sheet, has been shedding a staggering 10...

Mammoth Iceberg Splits From Greenland Glacier

Changes to glacier 'disturbing,' say alarmed scientists

(Newser) - A colossal iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken away from the end of Greenland's Petermann glacier. Another, even bigger, iceberg broke from the northerly glacier in 2010 , and scientists had been keeping an eye on a crack near the glacier's tip for years, reports AP . "...

Giant Iceberg Floats Toward NZ
 Giant Iceberg 
 Floats Toward NZ 
SO LONG, ANTARCTICA

Giant Iceberg Floats Toward NZ

Chunk of Antarctica spotted unusually far north

(Newser) - A gigantic iceberg drifting unusually far north has been spotted by Australian researchers off an island south of Tasmania. The chunk of ice, 2,300 feet long and 1,000 feet deep, is floating toward New Zealand and could pose a danger to shipping when it splits into smaller chunks....

Antarctic Ice Shelf Crumbles
 Antarctic Ice Shelf Crumbles 

Antarctic Ice Shelf Crumbles

Scientists say global warming has made huge Wilkins Ice Shelf unstable

(Newser) - A huge ice shelf in the western Antarctic has become unstable and is beginning to fracture into icebergs, the Telegraph reports. Images from space show that the Jamaica-sized Wilkins ice shelf has lost 270 square miles of ice in recent weeks. Scientists expect the "fragile and vulnerable" shelf to...

Snapped Antarctica Ice Bridge Stokes Warming Alarm

First break for massive, retreating shelf

(Newser) - A massive 25-mile-long Antarctic ice bridge between a Jamaica-sized ice shelf and an island has broken in what scientists are calling an alarming sign of runaway global warming, the BBC reports. It was the first time the shelf, which has been retreating for years, has lost a link holding it...

Vast Ice Shelf Tumbles Into Sea

System broken, warns expert

(Newser) - A 4,500-year-old, 19-square-mile Arctic ice shelf has broken off an island in Canada, Canada.com reports, making more than 75 square miles of Canadian ice shelves that have melted this summer. “These changes are irreversible under the present climate, and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept...

Huge Chunk Snaps Off Largest Arctic Ice Shelf

Arctic's biggest ice shelf is falling apart and not regenerating

(Newser) - An 8-square-mile chunk of ice has broken off an ancient ice shelf in Canada's Arctic, the Globe & Mail reports. The Ward Hunt Shelf, the biggest in the Arctic, has shrunk over the last century from 3,500 square miles to less than 400 today. Huge cracks have appeared in...

Huge New Cracks Seen in Arctic Ice Shelf

Giant ice shelf is falling apart and could float away

(Newser) - A Canadian expedition has found a major new network of cracks, more than 10 miles long, in the Arctic's ice shelves, the BBC reports. Scientists say the huge shelves are disintegrating; pieces become "ice islands" that can float hundreds of miles away as climate changes takes hold. Arctic sea...

Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses
 Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses 

Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses

Sudden break fuels climate change concerns

(Newser) - A mammoth chunk of ice has collapsed in Antarctica, leaving an ice shelf the size of Connecticut "hanging by a thread" and providing more evidence of global warming, scientists say. The sudden collapse of the 160-square-mile piece of ice threatens the Wilkins ice shelf, which has been in place...

13 Stories