Antarctic Rome-Sized Ice Shelf Collapses

A Rome-sized ice shelf in Antarctica has been collapsed after recording a new temperature increase in the region, News Week reported on Friday.

Experts said that the 463-square mile Conger ice shelf was collapsed on March 15 after the temperatures reached 70 degrees higher than the normal average.

The collapse was captured on satellite images and it is considered the first in history for an ice shelf in the region.

In the same context, the US National Ice Centre confirmed that an iceberg called C-38 was separated from the shelf on March 17.

USNIC said in a statement: "C-38 comprised virtually all that remained of the Conger ice shelf," the USNIC said in a statement.

In 2020, Pine Island Glacier, one of the fastest-shrinking glaciers in Antarctica, has just lost another huge chunk of ice to the sea, equals to twice the area of Washington D.C.

According to analysts quoted by Live Scince, The newest ice loss continues a troubling trend that has become a near-annual occurrence in the last decade.

Earlier in October 2019, Scientists at Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, noticed large cracks at the glacier near its edge.

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the recent calving event is not entirely surprising or particularly threatening to global sea levels. But rather, calving is a normal part of life for ice formations with sections that float on the water. Because ice at the edge of the glacier was already floating, this ice will not directly contribute to sea level rise when it inevitably melts.