The Geodynamics Research Center of National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, in collaboration with research institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom, has used satellite imagery to confirm that the Wilkins Ice Shelf (ice shelf) on the Antarctic Peninsula has undergone a massive collapse under the influence of global warming. This is the largest ice shelf observed to have melted and retreated in Antarctica to date, larger than two Taipei cities.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder issued a press release on the 25th, stating that satellite imagery shows ice shelves covering a total area of 13,680 square kilometers are beginning to collapse due to rapid warming.
Scholars say the Wilkins Ice Shelf is a large ice floe located 1,609 kilometers south of South America.
"We believe that the Wilkins Ice Shelf has existed for hundreds of years, but it began to disintegrate due to the influence of warm air and ocean currents," said Scott Scamber, chief scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who first discovered the disintegration phenomenon in March of this year.
Satellite images show that the Wilkins Ice Shelf began to break apart on February 28. A large iceberg detached from the southwestern end of the ice shelf, triggering a series of collapses that affected an area of 405 square kilometers.
According to the Central News Agency, Taiwanese scholars, at the invitation of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, used the Formosa-2 satellite on March 8th to capture images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf disintegrating. Liu Cheng-chien, associate professor of Earth Sciences at National Cheng Kung University, said the disintegration area of the Wilkins Ice Shelf is larger than two Taipei cities, and it is now supported only by a long ice floe about six kilometers long.
Updated: 2008/03/27 08:00 Compiled by Wang Xiantang / Reported by Wang Xiantang
