Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Triggers Revised Sea-Level Rise Projections

[wisdom01]

A major portion of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula has catastrophically collapsed into the sea, an event captured by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites. The collapse, involving an area larger than London, occurred with startling speed following a period of record atmospheric warmth and the incursion of anomalously warm ocean water beneath the shelf. Ice shelves are critical floating extensions of the continent's ice sheets, acting as buttresses that slow the flow of glaciers on land into the ocean.