ice shelf

noun

Definition of ice shelf

: shelf ice

In 2002, a Rhode Island-size section of an ice shelf crumbled into the sea.
—Joe McGowan

Recent Examples of ice shelf from the Web

One by one, the ice shelves on the east side of the peninsula began to collapse.

— National Geographic, "Mysterious Winds Cause Rapid Melting of Antarctic Ice," 15 Nov. 2016
Thus by itself, the latest chunk breaking off from the floating ice shelf isn't worrisome.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Massive Iceberg Breaks Off From Antarctic Glacier," 27 Sep. 2017
Noel Gourmelen, from the University of Edinburgh said ice melt from the Dotson ice shelf in western Antarctica means 40 billion tonnes of freshwater pours into the Southern Ocean every year.

— manisha ganguly, CNN, "Penguin catastrophe leaves thousands of chicks dead with only two survivors," 13 Oct. 2017
New satellite images from TerraSAR-X show the iceberg known as A68 has begun to drift away from the Larsen C ice shelf and is being driven by currents, potentially toward the South Atlantic.

— erik ortiz, NBC News, "Giant Iceberg That Broke Free From Antarctica Has Begun Drifting," 27 Sep. 2017
Most icebergs come from ice shelves, which are already floating.

— doyle rice, USA TODAY, "Another iceberg broke off Antarctica. Should we be worried?," 27 Sep. 2017
The current break was in the glacier's floating ice shelf, which extends out over a deep ocean cavity.

— chris mooney, chicagotribune.com, "Key Antarctic glacier just lost a piece of ice four times the size of Manhattan," 25 Sep. 2017
Two ice shelves, Larsen A and Larsen B, have previously collapsed.

— daniela hernandez, WSJ, "Huge Iceberg Breaks Off From Antarctic Peninsula," 16 Sep. 2017
In 2012, Antarctic sea ice actually hit a record monthly high, with scientists theorizing that melting ice shelves were contributing to the growth.

— National Geographic, "Antarctica’s Sea Ice Shrinks to New Record Low," 15 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ice shelf.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of ice shelf

1869

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ice shelf

Definition of ice shelf

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First Known Use of ice shelf

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ice shelf

Definition of ice shelf

Recent Examples of ice shelf from the Web

First Known Use of ice shelf

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