Antarctica ice at risk of collapse, says study

A platform of ices urrounding Antarctica that is nearly four times the size of the UK is at risk of collapse, according to a study.

There search suggests more than 350,000 square miles of floating ice shelves could split if fractures on their surface are submerged due to the effects of climate change.

Such a sudden loss of the supportive st ructures could raise sea levels around the world, with previous studies suggesting they could rise by a metre by the year 2100.

A team involving geoscientists from the University of Edinburgh used a process called hydrofracturing to analyse satellite images of the area.

Dr Martin Wearing, of the School of Geosciences, said: “We’ve seen in the past that the sudden collapse of ice shelves can trigger rapid acceleration of the glaciers that flow into them and, in turn, sea levels rise.

“We have found that stresses within vast sections of Antarctica’ s ice shelves are sufficiently large that they could collapse if, as climate models predict, surface melting increases substantially in coming years.”

The findings suggest about 60 percent of the iceshelf area supporting the main sheet is vulnerable. Increased surface melting from the weight of the water could enlarge fractures.