Antarctic Peninsula’s Rivers of Ice Shrinking

The first comprehensive survey of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula shows that the rivers of ice are shrinking, mostly because of warming of the local climate.

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed more than 2,000 aerial photographs dating from 1940 and more than 100 satellite images taken since the 1960s. They calculated that 87% of the 244 glaciers have retreated over the last 50 years and that the pace of shrinkage has accelerated over the last decade, they reported this week in the journal Science.