Antarctic Peninsular, 7th February 1997:

Scientists aboard a Greenpeace ship have discovered a deep underwater channel in the Antarctic which will provide new insights into the collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf and the effects of climatic change in the Antarctic Peninsula.

The 1000 metre deep submarine channel was discovered this week by Greenpeace scientist, Ricardo Roura, and Argentinean Antarctic Institute researcher (IAA) Jorge Lusky as the MV Arctic Sunrise was steaming through uncharted waters formerly occupied by the Larsen Ice A Shelf. The sudden collapse of this ice shelf in January 1995 has been linked to recent warming in the region.

Dr Rodolfo Del Valle, Head of the Geology Department at the IAA said: "From a geological point of view, this is a tremendous discovery which we were not expecting". He added that it will help scientists to understand how and why the shelf collapsed. "It is possible to link the retreat of glaciers and the ice shelf collapse to the greenhouse effect," he said.

Dr. Del Valle speculates that the channel and other nearby channels refrigerated the bottom of the ice shelf and delayed thinning by warmer sea currents circulating underneath the ice shelf. The scientists crossed the channel along eight transects (two along the length of the channel and six along the width, roughly perpendicular to the channel's main axis) five nautical miles apart.

The submarine channel is located where the northern end of the Larsen-A Ice Shelf used to be, offshore from the Drygalski Glacier (the largest glacier on the Nordenskjold Coast), and is 15 nautical miles long and six to eight nautical miles wide, approximately coinciding with the glacier's width.

The MV Arctic Sunrise is on a five week "Polar Meltdown" Tour documenting impacts of climate change. The channel is located offshore the Drygalski Glacier, the largest glacier on the Nordenskjold Coast, Antarctic Peninsula and roughly coincides with the glacier's width. Argentinean scientists have asked Greenpeace to collaborate in the naming of the channel.

Contacts:

On board MV Arctic Sunrise: (ph +874 (or 871) 130 2577:

Janet Dalziell -- Expedition Leader, English

Erwin Jackson -- Climate Impacts Specialist, English

Martina Krueger -- German and Dutch

Emiliano Ezcurra -- Spanish,Portuguese, French, Italian

Greenpeace International press desk, Jon Walter ++31 20 5249 547