Photos released on Friday from NASA's Operation Icebridge show with a stunning clarity that the huge rift in the Larsen C ice shelf is getting closer to causing a section of ice the size of Delaware to break off.
Scientists have been monitoring a massive crack in one of Antarctica's largest ice shelves for some time. In the last five months alone, the fracture has grown an extra 22 kilometers, and it's only a matter of time before it breaks free.
The satellite images not only capture the crack's length, but also the "texture" of the ice shelf with smooth ice depicted as blue and rougher areas — like the rift and open water — as orange.
Credit: Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory
NASA
Snapshot of the rift in the Larsen C on Nov. 10, 2016. (NASA/John Sonntag)
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
The NASA Operation Icebridge aircraft comes with a lot of technology, including lasers, radars, digital imaging, and infrared sensors.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Incredible image of crack in the Larsen C ice shelf.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Antarctica's major ice shelf areas.
Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center
The SENTINEL-1 mission is the European Radar Observatory for the Copernicus joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
ESA
Larsen B ice shelf on January 31, 2002. By April 13, 2002, the ice shelf had collapsed.
NASA Earth Observatory
NASA's Operation Icebridge flight prepares to fly over Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica.
