In Photos: Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf Through Time

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Growing crack

Larsen-C Ice Shelf Crack (8 March 2017), Antarctica.

(Image credit: Paul Quast/Landsat 8/USGS)

The main Larsen C rift extended a whopping 109 miles (175 km) as of March 3, 2017. The ice shelf, and rift, are shown on March 8, 2017, in images snapped by instruments aboard the Landsat-8 satellite.

Speeding up

This mosaic of images from the Sentinel-1 satellite show the change in speed of the Larsen C ice sheet from early to late June 2017.

(Image credit: Sentinel-1/MIDAS/Swansea University)

Now, researchers with the U.K.-based Project MIDAS have observed that the seaward side of the rift on the Larsen C ice shelf has tripled in speed; it is flowing 33 feet (10 m) per day as of June 24 through June 27.

The main rift

A satellite image showing the giant (and growing) crack in the Larsen C ice shelf on April 6, 2017.

(Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory)

A satellite image showing the giant (and growing) crack in the Larsen C ice shelf on April 6, 2017.

Jeanna Bryner
Managing editor, Scientific American

Jeanna Bryner is managing editor of Scientific American. Previously she was editor in chief of Live Science and, prior to that, an editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Bryner has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species, including the gorgeous Florida Scrub Jay. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is a firm believer that science is for everyone and that just about everything can be viewed through the lens of science.