--- description: A crack in an Antarctic ice shelf has grown by 13 miles in the past six months, threatening to detach an area of ice larger than Delaware title: See the Giant Crack That Could Collapse Part of an Antarctic Ice Shelf image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt985b74f9cd3cf132/6988a53f0b72e34cbe6eaec2/antarctic-ice-shelf-crack.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [climate change](/tag/climate-change/) ## climate change Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See the Giant Crack That Could Collapse Part of an Antarctic Ice Shelf  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Sep 12, 2016 2:17 PM CUT  The rift is visible on the left in these images taken by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on NASA’s Terra satellite on Aug. 22, 2016, The ice shelf comprises the left half of the image, and thinner sea ice appears on the right. The rift is visible on the left in these images taken by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on NASA’s Terra satellite on Aug. 22, 2016, The ice shelf comprises the left half of the image, and thinner sea ice appears on the right.Jesse Allen—NASA Earth Observatory images  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Sep 12, 2016 2:17 PM CUT A large crack in an Antarctic ice shelf has grown by 13 miles in the past six months, threatening to detach an area of ice larger than Delaware. [Images](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=88708&src=eorss-iotd "undefined") of the Larsen C shelf captured by NASA’s Terra satellite show a fault line that now stretches 80 miles in length, according to a report from the U.S. space agency. A portion of the ice shelf—the continent’s fourth largest—could disconnect Scientists are working to understand the immediate changes that created the giant crack—and have led it to grow so quickly. [Project MIDAS](http://www.projectmidas.org/about/ "undefined"), a U.K. group dedicated to studying the Larsen C shelf, notes that a warming climate has changed the structure of the ice, threatening the possibility of collapse. The [Larsen B ice shelf](http://time.com/3872724/antarctica-ice-shelf-melting-ocean-rise/ "undefined") partially collapsed in 2002 and has furthered weakened in recent years. Scientists studying Antarctica expect it to collapse within a decade. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4483880/antarctica-global-warming-ice-melt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4483880/antarctica-global-warming-ice-melt/"},"headline":"See the Giant Crack That Could Collapse Part of an Antarctic Ice Shelf","datePublished":"2016-09-12T14:17:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:28:22.262Z","description":"A large crack in an Antarctic ice shelf has grown by 13 miles in the past six months","url":"https://time.com/4483880/antarctica-global-warming-ice-melt/","keywords":["climate change","NASA","antarctica"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt985b74f9cd3cf132/6988a53f0b72e34cbe6eaec2/antarctic-ice-shelf-crack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt985b74f9cd3cf132/6988a53f0b72e34cbe6eaec2/antarctic-ice-shelf-crack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"IDL TIFF file","caption":"The rift is visible on the left in these images taken by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on NASA’s Terra satellite on Aug. 22, 2016, The ice shelf comprises the left half of the image, and thinner sea ice appears on the right.","creditText":"Jesse Allen—NASA Earth Observatory images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4483880/antarctica-global-warming-ice-melt/","name":"See the Giant Crack That Could Collapse Part of an Antarctic Ice Shelf"}}]}] ```