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Science 31 October 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5646, pp. 856 - 859
DOI: 10.1126/science.1089768
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Reports

Larsen Ice Shelf Has Progressively Thinned

Andrew Shepherd,1* Duncan Wingham,2 Tony Payne,3 Pedro Skvarca4

The retreat and collapse of Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves in tandem with a regional atmospheric warming has fueled speculation as to how these events may be related. Satellite radar altimeter measurements show that between 1992 and 2001 the Larsen Ice Shelf lowered by up to 0.27 ± 0.11 meters per year. The lowering is explained by increased summer melt-water and the loss of basal ice through melting. Enhanced ocean-driven melting may provide a simple link between regional climate warming and the successive disintegration of sections of the Larsen Ice Shelf.

1 Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK.
2 Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
3 Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK.
4 Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, 1010 Buenos Aires, Argentina.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: aps46{at}cam.ac.uk

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