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FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF ADRIAN LUCKMAN; NASA EARTH OBSER

VATORY

ICY SPLIT-UP COULD

DESTABILIZE LARSEN C

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AN ICEBERG WEIGHING 1 TRILLION TONS calved from Antarctica’s Larsen C

ice shelf around July 10, capturing global headlines. The iceberg, nearly

the size of Delaware, is among the largest ever recorded. The calving is

not directly linked to climate change, experts say; bergs break away naturally.

And the ice was already floating, so it won’t raise sea levels. Of concern,

though, is the fate of the remaining 88 percent of Larsen C, which still spans

some 17,000 square miles.

The event threatens to destabilize Larsen C, recent studies suggest. Since ice

shelves act like plugs, removing them lets inland glaciers flow faster into the

ocean — and that will raise sea levels. Other massive ice shelves have experienced

destabilization after similar calving events. Larsen A, which is C’s Antarctic

Peninsula neighbor, crumbled in 1995. Larsen B collapsed seven years later.

U.K.-based glaciologist Adrian Luckman of Swansea University leads Project

Midas, which tracks Larsen C. He says the recent iceberg caught public attention,

but the real science is still to come. — ERIC BETZ

Adrian Luckman

Glaciologist

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY

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