An Antarctic ice shelf larger than Connecticut disintegrated into icebergs and smaller chunks of ice, as seen by the Taiwanese Formosat-2 satellite.

The image shows bergs in such detail that they could be mistaken for model paper-mache and foam blocks. Some table-like bergs simply broke off from the ice shelf and floated away, as their broad, flat shapes allowed them to plow a steady course through the ocean swells. Other large pieces toppled like dominoes and revealed their bluer sides and bottoms that indicate frozen seawater. A slushy mix of ice fragments floats between the larger chunks.

The disintegration of the ice shelf was likely the result of rising temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula, which has been warming rapidly over the past fifty years. Liquid water that forms on top of ice shelves can drive into existing cracks like a wedge splitting firewood. The ocean's actions then weaken the ice until the final collapse.

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Credit: Cheng-Chien Liu (NCKU)/An-Ming Wu (NSPO)