Big Crack Found In Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf C by NASA; Global Warming Getting Worst?

After 14 years since the section B of the Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf broke off and disintegrated because of global warming, NASA researchers found that Larsen C -- the last complete piece of the Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf-- has a huge, 300-feet crack.

According to the Daily Mail, section C of the Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf will gradually break and might produce a Delaware-sized iceberg before completely disappearing. The disappearance of Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf section C will cause the ice behind the shelf to move towards the ocean and could increase sea levels by over 82 cm.

In NASA's press release about the Antarctic ice shelf crack, they mention that the crack is 70 miles long, 300 feet wide, and 1/3 mile deep. The team who investigated the crack is part of NASA's IceBridge mission, whose task is to collect data on the changes in the polar region environment , like the polar land and sea ice in order to continue measurements in-between NASA'S ICESat missions.

In 2002, section B of the Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf also had a similar crack, which broke into icebergs and disappeared in a matter of 35 days. While the crack completely cuts through the ice shelf, for now it does not go all the way across; there was no mention when NASA predicts it will break apart.

According to the Daily Mail's report, studies believed that Section B was to be stable for up to 12,000 years, but was affected by global warming. With temperatures rising, the increase of water flow into the cracks acted like wedges that broke the ice shelf apart. The breaking of Section B of the Larsen Antarctic Ice Shelf caused large concern about global warming, but recent studies showed ice mass in the region has actually increased.

NASA's first ICESat mission ended in 2009 with ICESat-2 scheduled in 2018. In between, the IceBridge mission will keep track of measurements until 2019 and will help the ICESat-2 mission once it begins.