Post #436

“It was quite the blowout.” ➡️ to see what glaciologists watched this March, as an Antarctic ice shelf disintegrated nearly before their eyes. The ice shelf was in an area of East Antarctica previously considered relatively stable. These images from the joint @nasa/@usgs#Landsat 8 satellite show the region after the break up, on March 23, 2022, and shortly before, on Jan. 9, 2022. It’s likely that a weather system known as an atmospheric river drove some of the fracture, bringing temperatures far above normal, along with enhanced ocean swells and winds. Ice shelves are floating extensions of ice sheets, so when ice shelves disintegrate, they don’t directly raise sea levels. However, they do act as corks in bottles, holding back land ice. When they collapse, glacial ice can start streaming into the ocean.