Antarctic ice shelf gone, say researchers

Source: Agencies | April 5, 2009, Sunday |

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ONE Antarctic ice shelf has vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, claim US and British government researchers.

The Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists, they said on Friday.

More than 8,300 square kilometers have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986.

Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the US Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey.

"This continued and often significant glacier retreat is a wake-up call that change is happening ... and we need to be prepared," said USGS glaciologist Jane Ferrigno, who led the Antarctica study.

"Antarctica is of special interest because it holds an estimated 91 percent of the Earth's glacier volume."

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Antarctic ice shelf gone, say researchers

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