An area of ice the size of Rhode Island disappeared from ice
shelves surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula in 1998. This ice
holds back the many glaciers that feed into the area, and its
loss threatens to destabilize the continental ice sheets that
cover the Antarctic continent.
Satellite photos show that 1,200 square miles of ice
disappeared from the Larsen-B Ice Shelf during the last
Antarctic summer. The Wilkins Ice Shelf on the other side of
the peninsula lost 900 square miles of ice. It is considered
probable by scientists that the entire Larsen-B ice shelf will
disintegrate during the next Antarctic summer.
The melting of shelf ice that is already floating will not cause
sea levels to rise, but if the glaciers now being held back by
the Larsen ice slide into the sea, world sea levels will rise
anywhere from a few inches to twenty feet, depending on
how much new ice enters the ocean.
