ESA Daily Updates & Imagery From Wilkins Shelf, Remaining Link To Terra Firma

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As the Wilkins Ice Shelf is at risk of breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula, ESA’s Envisat satellite is observing the area on a daily basis. The satellite acquisitions of the ice shelf are updated automatically on this website to monitor the developments immediately as they occur.

In late November, new rifts developed on the ice shelf that scientists warn could lead to the opening of the ice bridge that connects the ice shelf to the Charcot island. If the ice bridge were to open, it could put the entire ice shelf at risk of further disintegrating.

The island visible in the upper left of the image is Charcot Island. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is connected to these by an ice bridge which is approximately 100 km long and only few km wide. Should the ice bridge break up due to increasing temperatures in the Antarctic spring, this would remove the stabilising factor that has been keeping the ice sheet grounded to the peninsula.


The above animation is comprised of images acquired by Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) in the Antarctic spring and summer of 2008. The ice bridge is visible as a narrow white strip in the image centre.

The animation will be updated daily as new ASAR acquisitions become available. The individual images that make up the animation are also available in the image archive on the right navigation bar.

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http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMWZS5DHNF_index_0.html