Antarctic ice crack could cause big rise in sea level – New York Post
Article Synopsis – A massive crack in an Antarctic ice shelf — 110 miles long and 1,500 feet wide — appears set to create a gigantic iceberg larger than Rhode Island, potentially leaving an “unstable configuration,” according to researchers. The key question will then become whether Larsen C will begin retreating once the mammoth iceberg is calved. The effects of a collapse of the Larsen C ice shelf could be felt far beyond Antarctica, since the glaciers that flow into it contain enough water to raise the global sea level by a centimeter. The stability of ice shelves is important because they resist the flow of the grounded ice inland. My Comments – The part of this article that suggests that Larsen C could cause significant sea level rise is rather misleading. Even the one Centimeter potential cited is minimal by itself, less than a half inch. Yet the collapse of Larsen C would be further evidence of a wider destabilization of Antarctica that could have catastrophic impact.
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