Wilkins Breakup Continues

The recent collapse of a vital buttress in Antarctica’s Wilkins Ice Shelf is now leading to the fracturing of large icebergs from the massive floating ice sheet, according to recent satellite photos from the European Space Agency. The pictures show that since the disintegration of a 25-mile-long ice bridge on April 2, icebergs equaling the size of New York City have split off from the ice shelf and floated into a nearby bay. The image, captured by the space agency’s Envisat satellite, shows the area — outlined in pink — where icebergs have calved from the northern end of the Wilkins Ice Shelf since the disintegration of the ice bridge that had connected the shelf to Charcot Island. The area once occupied by the ice bridge is outlined in white. Rapidly rising temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula, where the Wilkins Ice Shelf is located, have led to the full or partial breakup of 10 ice shelves in recent decades. The Envisat image shows scores of other icebergs that have broken off recently from the shelf.