In Photos: Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf Through Time

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Growing crack

Larsen-C Ice Shelf Crack (8 March 2017), Antarctica.

(Image credit: Paul Quast/Landsat 8/USGS)

The main Larsen C rift extended a whopping 109 miles (175 km) as of March 3, 2017. The ice shelf, and rift, are shown on March 8, 2017, in images snapped by instruments aboard the Landsat-8 satellite.

Speeding up

This mosaic of images from the Sentinel-1 satellite show the change in speed of the Larsen C ice sheet from early to late June 2017.

(Image credit: Sentinel-1/MIDAS/Swansea University)

Now, researchers with the U.K.-based Project MIDAS have observed that the seaward side of the rift on the Larsen C ice shelf has tripled in speed; it is flowing 33 feet (10 m) per day as of June 24 through June 27.

The main rift

A satellite image showing the giant (and growing) crack in the Larsen C ice shelf on April 6, 2017.

(Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory)

A satellite image showing the giant (and growing) crack in the Larsen C ice shelf on April 6, 2017.

Jeanna Bryner
Jeanna Bryner
Live Science Editor-in-Chief

Jeanna served as editor-in-chief of Live Science. Previously, she was an assistant editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Jeanna has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland, and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.