Wilkins Ice Shelf

Guide Note:The Wilkins ice shelf of the West Antarctica Peninsula, a plate of permanent floating ice that covers an area the size of Connecticut, is disintegrating at an alarming rate. Scientists predicted in 1993 that the shelf would collapse within 30 years, but the increasing effects of climate change have caused it to melt at double the anticipated rate. The final collapse of the Wilkins ice shelf will not greatly impact sea levels, as it is already floating in the ocean and does not hold back any land-based glaciers.

Fast Facts:

1. Composed of freshwater ice that originally fell as snow
2. Originally covered an area of 16,000 km²
3. Most likely formed at the onset of the Little Ice Age
4. Began retreating in the 1990s
5. 1000 km² of the shelf was lost in 1998
6. 200-300 square miles broke off in February and March of 2008

Quotes:

1. "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened. I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly."—Professor David Vaughan, British Antarctic Survey
2. ""Wilkins is a stepping stone in a larger process. It's really a story of what's yet to come if the mainland of Antarctica begins to warm."—Ted Scambos, glaciologist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado