Two major parts of the northern Larsen Ice Shelf broke off and formed icebergs in January 1995 and February 2002, according to Science magazine.

A team of researchers led by Andrew Shepherd of Cambridge University in Britain showed that between 1992 and 2001, the remainder of the shelf shrank by 30 centimeters (12 inches) per year, according to satellite photographs.

"Enhanced ocean melting has progressively thinned the shelf at its base," the study said.

"Thinning inevitably increases the ice shelf exposure to crevasse fracture."

"It is possible that the Larsen Ice Shelf thinning provides a link between the regional climate warming and the disintegration of the ice shelves at the Antarctic Peninsula," the scientists said.

SPACE.WIRE