A large ice bridge shattered in Antarctica on Saturday, once again raising concerns about the impacts of global warming.
The U.K. Daily Mail reports that a 25-mile-long strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in place has splintered at its narrowest point, and now scientists are concerned that greater collapses are likely to occur in the Antarctic Peninsula.
“We've waited a long time to see this,” David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, said to the Daily Mail. “My feeling is that we will lose more of the ice, but there will be a remnant to the south.”
Signs of weakening ice in Antarctic have been showing for quite some time. According to the Daily Mail:
Cores of sediments on the seabed indicate that some of these ice shelves had been in place for at least 10,000 years.
Since 1950, the ice bridge that cracked apart on Saturday had more than halved in length.
Temperatures in the Antarctic have risen by up to about 5.4f (3c) in the past 50 years, the fastest rate of warming in the Southern Hemisphere.
The U.S. and other nations are currently engaging in talks on how to best approach the issue of global warming.