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Cover Story

Grades 2-3

A Bad Break

Last Tuesday, a huge block of ice broke off from the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica. An ice shelf is a floating sheet of ice that is attached to land. Wilkins has been around for about 1,500 years. Scientists watch ice shelves closely. They jumped into action when they saw that the shelf was losing such a large piece. They moved satellites and flew an airplane over the area in time to take photos and video.

"It's an event we don't see very often," said Ted Scambos, a scientist at the University of Colorado.

Scientists are afraid that this collapse could cause the rest of the Wilkins Ice Shelf to break away from the coast. The shelf is about the size of Connecticut. Six shelves have collapsed in the past 30 years. Scientists blame the collapses on the rapid warming of the area in recent decades.

Next: A Brighter Future