Ice Melt

The loss of the great Antarctic ice shelf Larsen B is firming as a milestone sign that human activity is warming the world.

Scientists disclosed yesterday that the shelf had existed for at least 10,000 years before disintegrating. Its rate of melting had accelerated in recent decades.

It is almost certainly a response to human-induced global warming, said Canadian geographer Robert Gilbert.

Larsen B was the subject of a spectacular fictionalised opening sequence in the climate change movie, The Day After Tomorrow. The break-up of the 3250-square-kilometre floating shelf has undergone intense scientific scrutiny since it shattered in just 35 days in early 2002.

ClimateArk