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Science Monday 16 october 2023
A13

Scientists count huge melts in many protective HEALTH

Antarctic ice shelves DOCTOR ON DUTY

Oranjestad
By SETH BORENSTEIN Hospital 7:00 pm / 10:00pm
AP Science Writer Tel. 527 4000
Four dozen Antarctic ice San Nicolas
shelves have shrunk by at Imsan 24 hours
least 30% since 1997 and Tel.524 8833
28 of those have lost more Women in Difficulties
than half of their ice in that PHARMACY ON DUTY
time, reports a new study Oranjestad:
that surveyed these crucial Kibrahacha: tel. 583 4908
"gatekeepers'' between Medical Center : tel. 584 5794
the frozen continent's mas-
sive glaciers and open Women in Difficulties
ocean. OTHER
Of the continent's 162 ice Dental Clinic 587 9850
shelves, 68 show significant Blood Bank Aruba 587 0002
shrinking between 1997 Urgent Care 586 0448
Walk-In Doctor’s Clinic
and 2021, while 29 grew, 62 +297 588 0539
didn't change and three Women in Difficulties
lost mass but not in a way This satellite image provided by NASA, shows icebergs that formed through an ice shelf collapse. EMERGENCY
scientists can say shows a Associated Press
significant trend, accord- amounts to around 330 bil- a big collapse in 1989, but from warmer waters, Da- Police 100
Oranjestad
527 3140
ing to a study in Thursday's lion tons (300 billion metric has lost 87% of its remaining vison said. The ice shelves Noord 527 3200
Science Advances. tons) a year and is similar to mass since 1997, Davison on the east were growing Sta. Cruz 527 2900
That melted ice, which usu- previous studies. found. Neighboring Larsen slower than the shelves los- San Nicolas 584 5000
ally pens larger glaciers be- But the overall total is not A has lost 73% and Larsen ing ice to the west. Police Tipline 11141
hind it, then goes into the the real story, said study B 57%. The largest of the It's difficult to connect an Ambulancia 911
sea. Scientists worry that lead author Benjamin Da- Larsen ice shelves, Larsen individual ice shelf loss di- Fire Dept. 115
582 2219
Red Cross
climate change -triggered vison, a glaciologist at the C, has lost 1.8 billion tons rectly to human-caused cli-
melt from Antarctica and University of Leeds in the (1.7 trillion metric tons) of mate change, but steady TAXI SERVICES
Greenland will cause dan- United Kingdom. ice, about one-eighth of its attrition is expected as the Taxi Tas 587 5900
gerous and significant sea What's most important, he mass. world warms, he said.q Prof. Taxi 588 0035
rise over many decades said, are the patterns of in- The biggest loss of all is Taxi D.T.S. 587 2300
Taxi Serv. Aruba 583 3232
and centuries. dividual shelf loss. The new in the Thwaites ice shelf, A1 Taxi Serv. 280 2828
"Knowing exactly how, and study shows the deep loss- holding back the glacier Women in Difficulties
how much, ice is being lost es, with four glaciers losing nicknamed Doomsday be- TRAVEL INFO
from these protective float- more than a trillion tons on cause it is melting so fast
ing shelves is a key step in the continent's peninsula and is so big. The shelf has Aruba Airport 524 2424
understanding how Ant- and western side. lost 70% of its mass since American Airlines 582 2700
arctica is evolving," said "Some of them lost a lot of 1997 — about 4.1 trillion Avianca 588 0059
University of Colorado ice their mass over time," Davi- tons (3.7 trillion metric tons) Jet Blue 588 2244
582 7896
Surinam
scientist Ted Scambos, who son said. "Wordie is barely — into the Amundsen Sea.
wasn't part of the study. an ice shelf anymore." The ice shelves that grew Women in Difficulties
Scambos said the study The Wordie ice shelve, were predominantly on AID FOUNDATIONS
gives insight into fresh wa- which holds back four gla- the continent's east side, FAVI- Visually Impaired
ter that's melting into the ciers near the tip of the where there's a weather Tel. 582 5051
Amundsen Sea — "the key Antarctic Peninsula, had pattern isolates the land Alcoholics Anonymous
region of Antarctica for sea Tel. 736 2952
level rise" — that not only Narcotics Anonymous
adds height to the ocean, Tel. 583 8989
but makes it less dense and Fundacion Contra Violencia
salty. Relacional Tel. 583 5400
The biggest culprits were Centre for Diabetes
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giant icebergs breaking off Child Abuse Prevention
in 1999, 2000 and 2002 that Tel. 582 4433
were the size of Delaware, Quota Club Tel. 525 2672
he said. The study also Women in Difficulties
looks at ice melting from General Info
warm water below. Phone Directory Tel. 118
Ice shelves are floating
extensions of glaciers that
act "like the gatekeep-
ers" and keep the larger
glacier from flowing more
quickly into the water, the
study's lead author said.
All told, Antarctic ice
shelves lost about 8.3 trillion
tons (7.5 trillion metric tons)
of ice in the 25-year pe-
riod, the study found. That facebook.com/arubatoday/