|
Continental shelf - definition of Continental shelf in Encyclopedia (188 words) |
 | The continental shelf is an area of relatively shallow sea water that is found on the edge of each continent. |
| The largest shelf - the Siberian shelf in the Arctic Ocean - stretches to 1500 kilometers in width. |
| The continental shelf is by far the best understood part of the oceans on account of its relative accessibility. |
| Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses, March 2002 (1468 words) |
| The area lost by the shelf was was almost solely the region covered by melt ponds in late January. |
| One idea is that meltwater seeping between ice crystals and warming of the shelf as a whole, reduces the fracture toughness of the ice so that the shelf shatters under the same stresses imposed by local geography and the flow it used to tolerate. |
| In particular, the next shelf to the south, the Larsen C, is very near the stability limit, and may start to recede in the coming decade if the warming trend continues. |
Feeds |
Contact