According to a NASA study released on Thursday, the last intact section of one of Antarctica’s massive ice shelves is likely to melt completely in the next few years. If this were to occur, it would result in global sea level rise. The study focused on the last section of the Larsen B Ice Shelf, which has been around for over 10,000 years.

Ice shelves are massive floating platforms of ice that hang over the edge of the coastline of Antarctica. There are dozens of individual ice shelves that dot the coastlines of the frigid continent, the largest of which being about as large as France. The Larson B Ice Shelf is located in the Antarctic Peninsula, the landmass that extends towards the southern tip of South America. The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the two regions where researchers have found evidence of the thinning of crucial ice formations.

“This study of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers provides insights about how ice shelves farther south, which hold much more land ice, will react to a warming climate,” said Eric Rignot, co-author of the study and a glaciologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The study was published in the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, and was based on airborne surveys and radar data. Ala Khazendar, the study’s lead scientist was quoted as saying, “Analysis of the data reveals that a widening rift in Larsen B will eventually break it apart completely, probably around the year 2020.” Once this occurs, the glaciers that were held in place by the ice shelf will slide into the ocean at a much higher rate, almost assuredly acceleration the process of rising sea levels.

The study’s final finding was that the glaciers named Leppard and Flask, both belonging to the Larsen B shelf, have thinned by between 65 and 72 feet in recent years.

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article, the author uses quotes from which two scientists?
2. In the piece, the word “miniscule” means what?
3. The author seems to offer what main idea?
4. Select the best two sentences from the story that support the idea of rising global sea levels.
5. What is the connotation of the word “crucial” in the story?