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Larsen Ice Shelf: Environment for UPSC Exams
Larsen Ice Shelf: Environment for UPSC Exams
Larsen C:
- The Larsen Ice Shelf is a long, fringing ice shelf in the northwest part
of the Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of the Antarctic
Peninsula.
- It is named for Captain Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the Norwegian
whaling vessel Jason, who sailed along the ice front in 1893.
- The Larsen Ice Shelf is a series of shelves that occupy distinct
embayments along the coast from north to south, the segments are called
Larsen A (the smallest), Larsen B, and Larsen C (the largest) by
researchers.
- Further south, Larsen D and the much smaller Larsen E, F and G are also
named.
- The breakup of the ice shelf since the mid-1990s has been widely
reported, with the collapse of Larsen A in 1995 and Larsen B in 2002 being
particularly dramatic.
- Larsen C has developed a rift 175 kilometres long and half-a-kilometre
wide. A chunk of the shelf is poised to break off soon. When that happens,
the ‘chunk’ will be an iceberg over 5,000 sq. km across and 350m high – more
than four times the height of Delhi’s Qutub Minar and over an area
one-and-a-half times the size of Goa.
- If the glaciers held in check by Larsen C spilt into the Antarctic
Ocean, it would lift the global water mark by about 10 cm, the researchers
said.
- Larsen C is the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica, with an area of about 50,000 km2.