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		</div><p>A platform of ice surrounding Antarctica which is nearly four times the size of the UK is at risk of collapse, according to a new study.<br />
It suggests that more than 350,000 square miles of floating ice shelves could split if fractures on their surface are submerged due to the effects of climate change.</p>
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<p>Such a sudden loss of the supportive structures could raise sea levels around the world – with previous studies suggesting they could rise by a metre by the year 2100.<br />
A team involving geoscientists from the University of Edinburgh used a process called hydrofracturing to analyse satellite images of the area.</p>
<p><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/AB8946CF-D46D-4A62-81BE-316E2F91800D.png" alt="" width="600" height="502" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-160881" /></p>
<p>Dr Martin Wearing, of the university’s School of GeoSciences, was among those taking part in the study.<br />
He said: “We’ve seen in the past that the sudden collapse of ice shelves can trigger rapid acceleration of the glaciers that flow into them, and, in turn, sea-level rise.</p>
<p>“We have found that stresses within vast sections of Antarctica’s ice shelves are sufficiently large that they could collapse if, as climate models predict, surface melting increases substantially in coming years.</p>
<p>“We hope our use of machine learning is a first step towards further applications of AI (artificial intelligence) in the analysis of the ever-growing quantity of data from the polar regions.”</p>
<figure id="attachment_160882" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-160882" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/9BF82F2A-097B-4628-B106-C753563630CD.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="338" class="size-full wp-image-160882" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-160882" class="wp-caption-text">Increased surface melting from the weight of the water could enlarge fractures, according to the team</figcaption></figure>
<p>The findings suggest around 60% of the ice-shelf area supporting the main sheet is vulnerable.<br />
Increased surface melting from the weight of the water could enlarge fractures in these sections, according to the team.</p>
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<p>The study, published in the journal Nature, was led by researchers from Columbia University in the US.<br />
It also involved Utrecht University and Google, with the work supported by the National Science Foundation and the Dutch Research Council.</p>
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