PART OF WILKINS ICE SHELF COLLAPSES

In late February a large chunk (41 km x 2.4 km) of ice broke away from the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. The break has triggered the breakup of much more of the ice shelf, so that now the whole ice shelf is in danger of disintegrating.

Below is an image from the National Snow and Ice Data Center that shows the location of the breakup:


Here is an image taken during a flyover by the British Antarctic Survey:


Scientists attribute the breakup to global warming. Temperature records show that the region around the Antarctic Peninsula is warming at a faster rate than most other parts of the world. The breakup of the Wilkins shelf will not contribute directly to rising sea level. It's more like having an ice cube in a glass of water melt -- the water level remains the same. However, as ice shelves disappear, it's likely the glaciers behind them will begin to flow more quickly into the oceans. This phenomenon is being seen today in areas of Greenland. The melting of these glaciers will contribute to a sea level rise. Interestingly, there's enough water stored in the polar ice caps to cause a 70 m rise in global sea level!

LEAVING THE ICE

Nearly three months have gone by since I left the ice. I thought it was high time I document the trip back.

We left McMurdo early on December 8th. We were loaded onto Ivan the Terrabus for the half hour ride out to the Pegasus Ice Runway. Below is a view of all of us stuffed into the bus. Everyone was required to wear their extreme cold weather gear for the trip. Once near New Zealand, we would be stripping down to jeans and a t-shirt -- it was summer there.


Ivan dropped us off and we lugged our gear across the ice and onto the C-17 that was waiting for us.


Here's a view from inside the plane. We sat in rows of (very uncomfortable) jump seats that lined the walls and center aisle of the plane. It was a 5-hour trip.


As we left Antarctica, we stole peeks out the few windows that exist on a C-17. We could tell we were getting to warmer climes when we noticed the sea ice was melting and breaking up.


All in all, my trip to Antarctica was a wonderful experience that I'll never forget. I feel lucky to have seen it while the environment is still in good shape. Things will be changing fast as the Earth continues to warm.