The crack in the Antarctic ice has been produce for days . Now scientists say amajor breakis coming — an event that could set up in motion the radioactive decay of the full 19,000 - solid - Roman mile Larsen C icing shelf .
The intact Larsen ice ledge , comprise Larsen A , B , C , D , E , F , and G , wraps like a crumble whitened blanket around the Antarctic Peninsula . The rupture in Larsen C started little , as these things do , but with each passing daylight its expanding upon accelerates . By June 24 , the crack was widening by about 32 feet per day .
Scientists at the UK - ground Project MIDAS say a bragging break is close at hand . " We still ca n’t tell when calving will occur , " theywroteon their site , " it could be hours , days or weeks — but this is a notable departure from previous observation . "
The loss of the Delaware - sized iceberg — one of the largest ever recorded — will be both dramatic and destabilizing for its parent ice shelf .
" When it calve , " the researchers write , " the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10 pct of its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated side ever recorded . This event will fundamentally vary the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula . "
It could also trigger Larsen C ’s total prostration into the ocean , which could , in go , raiseworldwide ocean levels by four inches .
The geological fault will be the third major calving from the Larsen ice shelf in recent memory . The surface area call Larsen A break down in 1995 , followed by Larsen B in 2002 . The latter wasdouble the size of it of great London .
The researcher have no evidence directly linking this particular break to clime change , but as apress statementnoted , " It is wide accepted that warming ocean and atmospheric temperatures have been a factor in earlier disintegrations of ice shelves elsewhere on the Antarctic Peninsula . "
