Wednesday, 26 March 2008

Today the scientists surveying the antarctic region were shocked to find that the huge Wilkins Ice Shelf has started to seperate itself from the main land. Scientists believe that this piece of land the size of Northern Ireland has reacted this way due to the greatest temperature rise on the planet making the area 0.5°C warmer every decade.



Observers all around the world are astonished at which speed the ice shelf has desintegrated from its last movement on the 28 February when an iceberg measuring 41 by 2.4 kilometers collided with the ice shelf breaking off its southwestern front.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a 12,950 square kilometer floating giant held to the the antarctic land by a thin strip of ice measuring 5.6 kilometers, 1,609 kilometers south of South America. Now scientists say that it is just a matter of time untill the thin ice holding the shelf will surrender to the warm air and the ocean waves.

A shocking amount of more than 13,000 square kilometers have been lost to these circumstances over the past 50 years which could increase ocean levels around the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated in its latest report that during the 20th century the sea levels have rosen 10-20cm. There are experts predicting a rise of 1.4 meters by the end of the century due to the sea level rise of three milimeters per year.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is only one of many pieces of evidence showing that global warming is coming and that we are yet to see the devastating extent of the consequences. Although the change does come slowly experts agree that the impact of global warming will soon leave no excuse to be ignored.

contact:

Jason Grace
support@oak-media.de
www.enerlix.com