Larsen B Ice Shelf

The Larsen Ice Shelf is a spectacularly long ice shelf in the northwest of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica which was originally comprised of 3 separate ice shelfs.

Over a period of just 35 days in 2002, the Larsen Ice Shelf spectacularly disintegrated. Over 200 metres thick with a surface area of 3,250 square kilometres, researchers from Queens University estimated that the Larsen B had been in place for at least 10,000 years. By contrast, the Larson A Ice Shelf, which had collapsed in the 1990s, is thought to have formed only 4,000 years ago.

The collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf has been attributed to global warming.