The Amery Ice Shelf found in Antarctica is the third largest ice shelf. It is known to be a key drainage channel for the eastern portion of Antarctica.
According to scientists, they knew that the calving of the Amery Ice Shelf is at hand. The calved iceberg has become the "loose tooth" that covers 1,636 square kilometers. This iceberg is much smaller than that calved in 1960 with a whopping area of 9,000 kilometers.
The calved Amery block is called D28. While the common conclusion is that the calving is one of the many results of climate change, Scripps researcher, Professor Helen Fricker specifically stressed that there is no link between the calving event and climate change.
The calving and the current movement of D28 are closely being watched by the Australian Antarctic Division. Nearshore current and the wind tend to push D28 westwards. However, it is likely to take several years for the iceberg to completely melt or break apart. Thus, the stress geometry across the facade of the ice shelf may change which can influence the behavior of the cracks and its stability.
D28 is calculated to contain about 315 billion tons of ice. The thickness of ice is completed to be at 210 meters. According to Satellite data, despite the surface melting during summertime, Amery shows that it is roughly in balance with its surroundings. And however excited the Scripps Institution of Oceanology is to witness the calving event through these years, the calving was not exactly at the part where they expected it to be.
Amery is said to be the floating extension of most glaciers that flow off landmasses and into the sea. This process of losing iceberg to the ocean places the balance to the input of snow upstream. Thus, maintaining the needed equilibrium.
According to Professor Fricker, "while there is much to be concerned about in Antarctica, there is no reason to cause any alarm yet for the Amery ice shelf."
It may take decades once again before another calving may happen, but it sure is not the result of climate change.
The last major calving event on the Amery happened in 1963–64. According to Fricker, this event is not linked to climate change. He and his team believe it is part of the ice shelf's normal cycle, and major calving events occur every 60–70 years.
Disappearance of Polar Bears
If Arctic sea ice continues to shrink, polar bears and other animals may be extinct.
"The calving will not directly affect sea level because the ice shelf was already floating, much like an ice cube in a glass of water," Ben Galton-Fenzi, a glaciologist with the Australian Antarctic Program, said. "But what will be interesting to see is how the loss of this ice will influence the ocean melting under the remaining ice shelf and the speed at which the ice flows off the continent," he added.