Wilkins Ice Shelf Breakup Events, 1998 to 2008

In March 2008, the Wilkins Ice Sheet on the Antarctic Peninsula lost more than 400 square kilometers (160 square miles) to a sudden collapse. Since March, the Wilkins continued to break up, even as the Southern Hemisphere winter brought frigid temperatures to the fragile ice shelf. However, the 2008 series of events was not the first. In 1998, the Wilkins ice shelf retreated by nearly 1,100 square kilometers (425 square miles).

Use the links below to learn more about the Wilkins Ice Shelf. For more information about Antarctic ice shelves, see State of the Cryosphere: Ice Shelves and Larsen Ice Shelf Breakup Events.

10 July 2008

Wintertime Disintigration of Wilkins Ice Shelf

In March, 2008, a 13,680-square-kilometer section of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula rapidly disintegrated.
View satellite image series
(For high-resolution images, see contacts at right.)

Aaccording to satellite imagery from the European Space Association (ESA), the Wilkins Ice Shelf continued to break up during the southern hemisphere winter. To learn more, visit the ESA at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM2U5THKHF_index_0.html.

25 March 2008

PRESS RELEASE: Antarctic Ice Shelf Disintegration Underscores a Warming World

Satellite imagery revealed that the western front of the 13,680 square kilometer (5,282 square mile) Wilkins Ice Shelf began to collapse because of rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of Antarctica.

View a series of satellite images depicting the 2008 Wilkins breakup.

16 August 1998

Collapse on the Wilkins Ice Shelf, March 1998

In March 1998, satellite images recorded a large breakup along the northern front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. Additional satellite data gathered in August 1998 revealed that this event was a major retreat of nearly 1,100 square kilometers (425 square miles).