One-third of Antarctic ice shelf area at risk of collapse: Study

As climate change is making temperatures soar, more than a third of the Antarctic’s ice shelf could be at risk of collapsing into the sea, and causing global sea-levels to rise, new research has shown.

The study, led by a researcher at the University of Reading in England, found that if global temperatures reach 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, 34 per cent of the area of all Antarctic ice shelves — around half a million square kilometres — including 67 per cent of ice shelf area on the Antarctic Peninsula, would be at risk of destabilisation.

Ice shelves — Larsen C, Shackleton, Pine Island and Wilkins — were identified as most at-risk under 4 degrees Celsius of warming, due to their geography and the significant runoff predicted in those areas.