Antartic shelf losing more ice.

The above headline article appeared on page 4A of the St. Petersburg Times on Thursday, April 30, 2009. The article stated that massive ice chuncks are crumbling away from a shelf in the western Antartic Peninsula, researchers said Wednesday, warning that 1,300 square miles of ice -- an area larger than Rhode Island -- was in danger of breaking off in coming weeks. The Wilkins Ice Shelf had been stable for most of the last century but began retreating in the 1990s. Researchers believe it was held in place by an ice bridge linking Charcot Island to the Antartic mainland. But the 127-square mile bridge lost two large chunks last year and then shattered completely on April 5. "There is little doubt that these changes are the result of atmospheric warming," said David Vaughan of the British Antartic Survey.
Does this news surprise anyone? The size of the depleted ozone area in that Antartic region in 1990 was 6.5 million square miles. The current size of the ozone hole in that same area is now 16.7 million square miles, more than doubled. The falling away of Antartic ice shelves does not, in itself, raise sea levels, since the ice was already in the sea. But such ice usually holds back glaciers. Freed, the land ice often flows more quickly into the sea, adding to a rise in sea levels.