RAPID COLLAPSE OF NORTHERN LARSEN ICE SHELF, ANTARCTICA

In January 1995, 4200 square kilometers of the northern Larsen Ice She lf, Antarctic Peninsula, broke away. Radar images from the ERS-1 satel lite, complemented by field observations, showed that the two northern most sections of the ice shelf fractured and disintegrated almost comp letely within a few days. This breakup followed a period of steady ret reat that coincided with a regional trend of atmospheric warming. The observations imply that after an ice shelf retreats beyond a critical limit, it may collapse rapidly as a result of perturbated mass balance .