. Shortly after its launch the first day of March 2002, Envisat sent images of how 3,200 square kilometres of ice is his in just days due to mechanical instabilities caused by warming in the region.
Envisat now shows how the barrier (called Larsen B) lost other 1,790 square kilometres in the last decade.
“Ice shelves are very sensitive to changes in temperature or oceans currents and warming of the atmosphere,” explains Helmut Rott of the University of Innsbruck. “The atmospheric temperature North of the Antarctic Peninsula rose about 2.5 ° C over the past 50 years, rather than the average planetary level, and this is causing the decline and disintegration of ice shelves.
The extension of the barrier B Larsen spent 11.512 square kilometres in January 1995 6.664 km in February 2002, after a long series of landslides. After the collapse of March 2002, its length was reduced to 3,463 kilometers. Now, Envisat shows that Larsen B has just 1,670 square kilometers of surface.
“The current climate models predict a dramatic warming at high latitudes – detailed Rott-.” “Data collected by Envisat on the Larsen ice shelf confirm the great vulnerability of these platforms, and show the importance of his role in the stabilization of the glaciers that are upstream.”
Radar observation satellites of the Earth, such as GRILLING, aboard Envisat, are particularly useful to monitor the polar regions, which are able to observe the surface of our planet through the cloud cover or in the dark.
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