The Collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2017

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In March 2002 a massive ice shelf with a surface area of more than 3,200 square kilometres collapsed into the ocean around western Antarctica. The Larsen B ice shelf had existed for more than 10,000 years, but it split apart in a period of just 35 days. Mike Lanchin hears from the leading glaciologist Pedro Svarka who saw it happen.

Photo: Satellite images showing the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf in early 2002 (Science Photo Library)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds. Choosing what to
0:32.1	watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:36.5	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:41.5	telly we share what we've been watching.
0:43.7	Cladie Aide!
0:45.7	Loads of games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:48.2	Lovely.
0:49.0	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:51.2	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:54.7	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds hello and welcome to the
1:00.8	witness podcast history told by the people who were there.
1:04.7	I'm Mike Lanchin and today we're going back to March of 2002
1:09.3	when a huge floating ice mass in the Antarctic broke up in a record 35 days. The massive
1:16.5	Larson B ice shelf had existed for more than 10,000 years. I've been hearing from a leading glaciologist who saw this amazing occurrence happen.
1:27.0	Incredible, incredible, incredible, you could not believe it. It's impossible to describe.
	...

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