Figure 17.37
Antarctic ice shelves. (A) Ten large ice shelves flank the West and East Antarctic ice sheets. The largest is the Ross ice shelf. (B) It is extremely unusual for ice shelves to break apart as the Larsen B ice shelf did in 2002. The Larsen B ice shelf was at least 10,000 years old. These satellite images show the ice shelf before and after most of it broke apart. Scientists believe meltwater lakes weakened the ice shelf.(A. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Scientific Visualization Studio; B. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Scientific Visualization Studio)