“We still treat East Antarctica like this massive, high, dry, cold and immovable ice cube,” he said. Peter Neff, a glaciologist and assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota, said that to see even a small ice shelf collapse in East Antarctica was a surprise. By 4 March this year, the ice shelf appeared to have lost more than half its surface area compared to January measurements of around 1,200 sq km. The Conger ice shelf had been shrinking since the mid-2000s, but only gradually until the beginning of 2020, Walker said. “It won’t have huge effects, most likely, but it’s a sign of what might be coming,” Walker said. Without them, inland ice flows faster into the ocean, resulting in sea level rise.ĭr Catherine Colello Walker, an earth and planetary scientist at Nasa and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said though the Conger ice shelf was relatively small, “it is one of the most significant collapse events anywhere in Antarctica since the early 2000s when the Larsen B ice shelf disintegrated”. Ice shelves are extensions of ice sheets that float over the ocean, playing an important role in restraining inland ice.
Possible it hit its tipping point following the #Antarctic #AtmosphericRiver and heatwave too? #CongerIceShelf #Antarctica /1wzmuOwdQn- Catherine Colello Walker March 24, 2022 km) ~March 15, seen in combo of #Landsat and #MODIS imagery.
Complete collapse of East Antarctica's Conger Ice Shelf (~1200 sq.
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