ANTARCTICA'S SAFETY BAND
Antarctica has dozens of ice shelves along its coastlines. They form when glacial ice, under the force of gravity, flows down to the coastline and then pushes out over the water. While it is rooted to the continental shoreline, the buoyancy of the ice causes it to float, forming a shelf over the water. Once the ice shelf forms, its buoyancy pushes back against the glacier, holding back the advance of the upstream ice. For this reason, researchers sometimes refer to ice shelves as the "safety band" of Antarctica. However, as ocean currents, warm waters, and strong winds stress the leading edge of the ice shelf, icebergs break off and float away. Losing ice from the end of the ice shelf weakens the pushback of buoyancy, allowing the glacier to advance. Watch below: Ice shelves are the support system for Antarctic glaciers. The loss of an entire ice shelf speeds up this process considerably, and in some cases, it can lead to a rapid advance or even a significant collapse of th...