Letters to the editor
By Science News
Seeing ice
In the photo series shown in “Taking Antarctica’s temperature”
(SN: 7/27/13, p. 18), the ice appears to be increasing from January to April as one would expect in the Southern Hemisphere. How does this demonstrate the rapid collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf?
William Meadows, Dripping Springs, Texas
The satellite images show a large area of the Antarctic Peninsula; the Larsen B Ice Shelf is a small area near the center. A closer view of Larsen B (above) from March 7, 2002, reveals that what looks like a solid sheet of ice in the wider view is actually composed of thousands of icebergs that have broken free. — Editors