Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
For the first time in the field, CIRES-led research shows that ice shelves don’t just buckle under the weight of meltwater lakes that form on their surface: they fracture. As the climate warms and melt rates in Antarctica increase, this fracturing could cause vulnerable ice shelves to collapse, allowing inland glacier ice to spill into the ocean and contribute to sea level rise.
This animation demonstrates how meltwater lakes can cause ice shelves to bend and fracture under their weight. Read more about this research and its implications at
https://cires.colorado.edu/news/ice-shelves-fracture-under-weight-meltwater-lakes.
Animation by Lauren Lipuma at CIRES.
For the first time in the field, CIRES-led research shows that ice shelves don’t just buckle under the weight of meltwater lakes that form on their surface: they fracture. As the climate warms and melt rates in Antarctica increase, this fracturing could cause vulnerable ice shelves to collapse, allowing inland glacier ice to spill into the ocean and contribute to sea level rise.
This animation demonstrates how meltwater lakes can cause ice shelves to bend and fracture under their weight. Read more about this research and its implications at
https://cires.colorado.edu/news/ice-shelves-fracture-under-weight-meltwater-lakes.
Animation by Lauren Lipuma at CIRES.
