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Warming alone triggered Antarctic ice shelf collapse

Unstable foundation didn’t cause Larsen B’s breakdown

satellite image of Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica

THIN ICE  Surface melting may have caused the collapse of Antarctica’s Larsen B, seen in the left half of a satellite photo before the breakdown. Large pools of melt water splotching the ice shelf probably forced open cracks in the ice. 

Landsat 7/GSFC/NASA 

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

Balmy surface temperatures, not an unstable underbelly, probably prompted the largest ice shelf collapse ever recorded, researchers report in the Sept.