Satellite images show fractures in Antarctica’s ice shelves, risk collapse as the climate warms
Hindustan TimesA platform of ice surrounding Antarctica measuring more than 350,000 square miles is at risk of collapse as the effects of climate change threaten to destabilise it, a new study has shown. Antarctica’s ice shelves face the risk of collapse The floating ice shelves that extend from the world’s largest ice sheet into the sea could split if fractures on their surface are flooded by meltwater as the climate warms. Martin Wearing, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who took part in the study, said: “We’ve seen in the past that the sudden collapse of ice shelves can trigger rapid acceleration of the glaciers that flow into them, and, in turn, sea-level rise.” “We have found that stresses within vast sections of Antarctica’s ice shelves are sufficiently large that they could collapse if, as climate models predict, surface melting increases substantially in coming years.” The study, which used machine learning and artificial intelligence software to examine satellite images, adds to a list of alarming research on the Antarctic’s ecosystem this year. One study released in February shortly after the region saw its highest temperature on record at 18.3 degrees Celsius warned global warming was leading to an “irreversible” mass melting of Antarctic ice.