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Wilkins Sound is a seaway in Antarctica that is largely occupied by the Wilkins Ice Shelf. It is located between the concave western coastline of Alexander Island and the shores of Charcot Island and Latady Island farther to the west.

Its northern portion was first seen and roughly mapped in 1910 by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot and was observed from the air in 1929 by Sir Hubert Wilkins. The configuration of the sound was determined in 1940 on exploratory flights by the US Antarctic Service (USAS). It was named by the USAS for Sir Hubert Wilkins, who in 1929 first proved "Charcot Land" to be an island (see Charcot Island) and thereby indirectly discovered this feature. The existence of Latady Island at the southwest side of the sound was determined in 1960 by D.J.H. Searle of Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) by examination of air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE), 1947–48.

Wilkins Ice Shelf

2008 partial collapse

Diagram showing region of ice preventing further collapse.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a rectangular ice shelf about 80 nautical miles long and 60 nautical miles wide (150 km by 110 km). This feature occupies the central part of Wilkins Sound, from which it takes its name. The name was proposed by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1971.

Effects of global warming

Further information: Retreat of glaciers since 1850

In 1993 Professor David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) predicted that the northern part of the Wilkins ice shelf was likely to be lost within 30 years if climate warming on the Peninsula were to continue at the same rate.^[1]

A study by the National Academy of Sciences in 2002 stated, "Because air temperatures are statistically increasing along the Antarctic Peninsula region, the presence of glacial meltwater is likely to become more prevalent in these surface waters and continue to play an ever-increasing role in driving this fragile ecosystem." In 2008 David Vaughan conceded his predictions had been too conservative and that events on the ground were moving quicker than he anticipated.^[2]

On March 25, 2008 a 405 km² (160 sq mi) chunk of the Wilkins ice shelf disintegrated, putting an even larger portion of the glacial ice shelf at risk.^[3][4] While temperature almost certainly played a part in this disintegration, several recent earthquakes magnitude 5.0 and greater along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge may also have contributed.^[5][6][7] Scientists were surprised when they discovered the rest of the 14,000 km² (5,400 sq mi)^[8] ice shelf is beginning to break away from the continent. What is left of the Wilkins ice shelf is now connected by only a narrow beam of ice.^[9] At the end of May, another break-off further reduced the width of the connecting ice strip from 6 km to 2.7 km.^[10] This second smaller event, with about 160 km² of ice separating, was the first documented break-up that occurred in winter.^[10] The Wilkins Ice Shelf is not connected to inland glaciers in the same way as the Larsen B Ice Shelf was and will therefore have a negligible effect on sea level rise.^[9]

On November 29, 2008 it was announced that The Wilkins Ice Shelf has lost around 2,000 square kilometers (about 772 square miles) so far this year, the ESA said. The Wilkins Ice Shelf, a large sheet of floating ice south of South America, is connected to two Antarctic islands by a strip of ice. A satellite image captured November 26 shows new rifts on the ice shelf that make it dangerously close to breaking away from the strip of ice -- and the islands to which it's connected, the ESA said.^[11]

See also

Antarctica portal

• Pine Island Bay
• Rothschild Island

References

This article incorporates text from Wilkins Sound, in the Geographic Names Information System, operated by the United States Geological Survey, and therefore a public domain work of the United States Government.

Coordinates: 70°15′S 73°0′W / -70.25, -73

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