Introduction
November 1, 2011For the last two winters, NSIDC researchers Ted Scambos and colleagues posted updates about their expedition to the Larsen Ice Shelf region, as part of the National Science foundation (NSF)-funded LARISSA project. LARISSA’s goal is to understand the causes and consequences of a rapidly changing part of Antarctica, from climate to ice to ocean and the seabed below, and then to the ecosystem evolving and adapting to the change. This season, Ted Scambos has returned to the ice to maintain the network of automated stations installed over the last two years.
In March 2002, a huge portion of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica disintegrated in just a few days. Immediately afterward, glaciers in the affected area began to accelerate. Within a few years, they were moving six to ten times faster, and thinning at an astounding rate (up to 500 feet in 6 years). The small portion of the Larsen Ice Shelf remains, but in recent years it, too, has started to melt, thin, and crack apart.
From December 2009 to March 2010, NSIDC researchers traveled to the Larsen Ice Shelf region as part of the National Science foundation (NSF)-funded LARISSA project. During that expedition they set up instruments on the glaciers that feed into the remaining portion of the Larsen ice shelf. Those instruments record weather conditions, GPS location, photographs, and other data, and send it back to the researchers via satellite.
As changes occur on the ice, the stations will record it in data and pictures. This winter, Ted Scambos has returned to the ice to maintain the stations and install a new camera on a cliff overlooking the remnant Scar Inlet Shelf. The new camera will have an excellent vantage point to see how the shelf evolves from winter to spring to summer.
