ice shelves
Coastal frozen platforms
Ice shelves is the plural of ice shelf—a thick floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and spreads out over the ocean.
Unlike sea ice, which forms from frozen seawater, ice shelves are extensions of land ice.
They act as buttresses, slowing the flow of glaciers behind them: Scientists worry that collapsing ice shelves will accelerate sea level rise.
- buttressingSupporting from the side
- calvingIce mass separation
- break apartSeparate into pieces
- riftsBreaks or separations
- cryosphereEarth's frozen water systems
glaciology · polar expedition · crevasse · floes · polar climate · glacial melt · ocean warming · climate change · sea level rise · white · Ross · vast · floating · frozen · snow · coastline · frigid · Larsen
- ArcticArctic Circle, Arctic Ocean, Arctic wildlife, Arctic exploration, Arctic research
- Frozen landscapesArctic, Antarctic, tundra, glacier, permafrost
- Southern HemisphereAntarctica, Australia, South America, South Africa, New Zealand
- glaciersglacier, crevasse, glacial movement, moraine, firn
- glacier featurescrevasses, firn, moraines, accumulation zone
- polar explorationAmundsen, Roald Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton, Ernest Shackleton
ice shelvesopen ocean
Sea far from shore
liquid water · meltwater · warm seas · tropical waters · seawater
ice, freeze, shelf, iceberg, freezer, shelves, ices, shelve, iciness