IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v436y2005i7051d10.1038_nature03908.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stability of the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch

Author

Listed:
  • Eugene Domack

    (Hamilton College)

  • Diana Duran

    (Hamilton College)

  • Amy Leventer

    (Colgate University)

  • Scott Ishman

    (Southern Illinois University)

  • Sarah Doane

    (Hamilton College)

  • Scott McCallum

    (Southern Illinois University)

  • David Amblas

    (University of Barcelona)

  • Jim Ring

    (Hamilton College)

  • Robert Gilbert

    (Queen's University)

  • Michael Prentice

    (University of New Hampshire)

Abstract

A long shelf life In January 2002 part of the Larsen B ice shelf began to collapse and separate from the Antarctic continent: thousands of icebergs were set adrift in the Weddell Sea. In five years the shelf has shrunk by 5,700 km2. That raises the important question of whether such a catastrophic collapse is unusual in climate history, or just par for the course. An examination of data from the only marine sediment cores available from the region indicates that the Larsen B ice shelf has been in existence since the end of the last glacial period 10,000 years ago, and that its recent collapse exceeds the limits of natural variability during the Holocene. This long-term view is critical to evaluating the relative role of natural and human factors in the collapse of the Larsen B system. The cover photo, taken on 23 February 2005 by Dave Tewksbury from R/V Laurence M. Gould, shows a new fjord on the Oscar II coast, created by the collapse.

Suggested Citation

  • Eugene Domack & Diana Duran & Amy Leventer & Scott Ishman & Sarah Doane & Scott McCallum & David Amblas & Jim Ring & Robert Gilbert & Michael Prentice, 2005. "Stability of the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch," Nature, Nature, vol. 436(7051), pages 681-685, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:436:y:2005:i:7051:d:10.1038_nature03908
    DOI: 10.1038/nature03908
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03908
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature03908?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jeroen Ingels & Richard B. Aronson & Craig R. Smith & Amy Baco & Holly M. Bik & James A. Blake & Angelika Brandt & Mattias Cape & David Demaster & Emily Dolan & Eugene Domack & Spencer Fire & Heidi Ge, 2021. "Antarctic ecosystem responses following ice‐shelf collapse and iceberg calving: Science review and future research," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:436:y:2005:i:7051:d:10.1038_nature03908. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.