The Wilkins Ice Shelf, Antarctica: break-up along failure zones

摘要

The Wilkins Ice Shelf, Antarctica, has experienced a series ofbreak-up events during the first half of 2008, the first on28/29 February, the second on 30/31 May and the mostrecent in June/July. The ice shelf (area —13 000 km2)experienced the first two break-up events on the connectionof the central part of the ice shelf with two confining islands,Latady and Charcot islands. The June/July break-up started ina region where an area of —1100 km2 had already broken offin 1998. After the 1998 event, the icebergs were nottransported out of the bay; rather, an ice melange formed,composed of icebergs and sea ice. Figure la (dated 2 March)shows the northern part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and thelocation of the melange.