The ice in Antarctica will disappear by 2020.

(Baonghean.vn) - According to a new study by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), one of the last remaining sections of the 10,000-year-old Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica is thinning alarmingly. The study predicts that the ice shelf, once considered to have a relatively thick ice bed, will "completely disintegrate" before the end of the decade.

A research team led by Ala Khazendar at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has found evidence that ice shelves are melting faster and becoming more fragmented. Flows created from large cracks between icebergs indicate that "these are warning signs that the rest of the ice shelf is breaking apart. The formation of the icebergs is unstable and their structure is breaking down more easily, which is advantageous for research but bad news for our planet…" Khazendar said in a NASA press release.

Satellite imagery shows the difference in the Larsen B ice shelf between 2002 (left) and 2012 (right).

The Larsen B ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years. In 2002, a section of it began to crumble, much to the surprise of scientists as they witnessed massive chunks of ice disintegrate and disappear rapidly within the following six weeks.

"No one has ever witnessed such a large block of ice disappear so quickly," said Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist at Slate.

Larsen B's area was measured in January 1995 as 4,445 square miles. This area had decreased to just 2,573 square miles by February 2002 after a major disintegration, and a month later it further decreased to 1,337 square miles. Currently, Larsen B covers only about 618 square miles.

Phuong Thao

(According to CNN, May 18)