Blame the Sea? Ocean may be melting ice shelf from below

Significant portions of a large Antarctic ice shelf just south of one that suddenly broke apart in February 2002 are rapidly thinning and may suffer a similar, catastrophic demise in less than a century, scientists say.

Satellite observations collected between 1992 and 2001 suggest that the upper surface of the Larsen C ice shelf dropped as much as 27 centimeters per year during the period.