A large chunk of one of Antarctica’s ice shelves broke off at the end of May, new satellite images show, marking the second major breakup of the shelf this year and the first documented episode to occur in winter. The European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite captured images of an area of ice about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers) breaking off of the Wilkins Ice Shelf from May 30 to 31.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a broad plate of floating ice south of South America on the Antarctic Peninsula. It connects two islands, Charcot and Latady. In February 2008, an even larger area of about 154 square miles (400 square km) broke off from the ice shelf, narrowing the connection between the islands to a 3.7-mile (6 km) wide strip of ice. After the most recent breakup, the connection was whittled down to just 1.7 miles (2.7 km). This narrow strip is all that is protecting thousands more kilometers of the ice shelf from further breakup. The Antarctic Peninsula has experienced more warming than any other part of the southernmost continent; in the past 50 years, it has experienced 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.5 degrees Celsius) of warming. More
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