Coastal Change and Glaciological Map of the Larsen Ice Shelf Area, Antarctica: 1940–2005

This map is part of a U.S. Geological Survey series of maps that uses Landsat imagery, other satellite data, and ancillary historical sources to map the glaciological features of the Antarctic coastal regions and trace fluctuations in the ice front over a 65-year period. This map, as well as two other maps of the Antarctic Peninsula, were done in cooperation with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and therefore used the extensive BAS historical archive that dates from 1940. The Antarctic Peninsula has shown the most obvious examples of recent change on the Antarctic continent. The Larsen Ice Shelf area has shown the most dramatic change in the peninsula—including the calving of an immense ~9,000 km² iceberg in early 1986, rapid retreat of the ice front between 1986 and 2000, and disintegration of 3,250 km² of the northern part of the ice shelf in 2002 (subsequently followed by an additional calving of 1,200 km² of ice). The map illustrates the significance of monitoring the Larsen Ice Shelf for effects that may be a result of global climate change.

Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey.