Larsen Ice Shelf
![An image of the collapsing Larsen B Ice Shelf and a comparison of this to the U.S. state of [[Rhode Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Larsen_B_Collapse.jpg)
The
Larsen Ice Shelf is a long
ice shelf in the northwest part of the
Weddell Sea, extending along the east coast of the
Antarctic Peninsula from
Cape Longing to
Smith Peninsula. It is named after Captain
Carl Anton Larsen, the master of the Norwegian whaling vessel ''
Jason'', who sailed along the ice front as far as 68°10' South during December 1893. In finer detail, the Larsen Ice Shelf is a series of shelves that occupy (or occupied) distinct
embayments along the coast. From north to south, the segments are called Larsen A (the smallest), Larsen B, and Larsen C (the largest) by researchers who work in the area. Further south, Larsen D and the much smaller Larsen E, F and G are also named.
The breakup of the ice shelf since the mid-1990s has been widely reported, with the collapse of Larsen B in 2002 being particularly dramatic. A large section of the Larsen C shelf broke away in July 2017 to form an iceberg known as
A-68.
The ice shelf originally covered an area of , but following the disintegration in the north and the break away of iceberg A-17, it now covers an area of .
Provided by Wikipedia