Ice breaker

Scientists in Wales have developed quite an expertise in studying glaciers from the warmth of their university rooms. Prof Adrian Luckman and his team at Swansea University have been carefully monitoring a large crack in the Larsen C ice shelf, which has recently forked. With a second fissure now headed to the shelf front, it may be that in the coming months there may be a major calving event on this glacier the size of Wales.

Adam Walton talks to Prof Luckman about his research and about the implications for the Antarctic and the wider world. Much of his work has been facilitated by satellite photographs of the glaciers. And this technique has been championed at Aberystwyth University's Centre for Glaciology, where Dr Tom Holt has been studying the structure and development of ice shelves.

If their work has whetted your appetite, you might want to follow the progress on Larsen C using the links included on this page.