After about 20 minutes of flying over Larsen B along the coast, over which we saw frozen lagoons and rivers on the ice shelf and groups of rifts of 500m long and 3-4m wide. The big rift that was filmed begins right at the ice front and continues to the horizon (Approx location: 65'30S, 60'00W). Its width is about 6-8m at the begining and then widens to about 20-30m. The crack is about 30m deep (to sea level) and at the bottom of the crack it was possible to see big rocks of ice along its valley. Parallel to the crack we saw more fractures in the ice running for as many kilometers as the main one.

More importantly, this is but one example of the cracks that are appearing throughout Larsen-B. According the Dr Rodolfo Del Valle, head of the geology section at the Argentean Artarctic Institute this crack is but one example of the many cracks that are appearing in the shelf. He and his colleages believes that ice shelf may collapse with the next couple of years.

Read the Greenpeace Press Release

For more information on the breakup of the Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves.