ICE SHELF

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ice shelf mean? 

• ICE SHELF (noun)
  The noun ICE SHELF has 1 sense:

1. ice that is attached to land but projects out to sea

  Familiarity information: ICE SHELF used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ICE SHELF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Ice that is attached to land but projects out to sea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

ice shelf; shelf ice

Hypernyms ("ice shelf" is a kind of...):

ice (the frozen part of a body of water)

 Context examples 

This area, known as the Ross Sea Polynya, absorbs solar heat quickly in summer and this solar heat source is clearly influencing melting in the ice shelf cavity.

(Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone.

(Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act, NASA)

They discovered that a melt pond hydrofracturing the ice shelf can prompt neighboring ponds to do the same.

(Reframing the dangers Antarctica's meltwater ponds pose to ice shelves and sea level, National Science Foundation)

If the slope of the ice shelf is sufficiently steep, the water may flow off the ice shelf to the ocean in large surface rivers, mitigating against any potential instability.

(Surface lakes cause Antarctic ice shelves to ‘flex’, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

An iceberg about the size of the state of Delaware split off from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf sometime between July 10 and July 12.

(Massive Iceberg Breaks Off from Antarctica, NASA)

This meltwater is leaking across the grounding line where the ice shelf meets the ocean.

(Previously unsuspected volcanic activity confirmed under West Antarctic Ice Sheet at Pine Island Glacier, National Science Foundation)

A new paper by researchers at the Earth Institute at Columbia University offers fresh insights into the forces causing the world's largest ice shelf to melt.

(Study in Antarctic waters reveals why Ross Ice Shelf melts in summer, National Science Foundation)

Pine Island Glacier is one of the most inhospitable and remote areas of Antarctica, so to get all the equipment needed to hot-water drill through the ice shelf required a major effort from our collaborators at the U.S. Antarctic Program, said James Smith, a marine geologist with BAS.

(West Antarctica's largest glacier may have started retreating as early as the 1940s, NSF)

If a supporting ice shelf were to melt away over a longer period of days or weeks, the scientists found, the remaining ice cliff wouldn't suddenly crack and collapse under its own weight, but instead would slowly flow out, like a mass of cold honey that's been released from a dam.

(Antarctic ice cliffs may not contribute to ice-sheet instability as much as predicted, National Science Foundation)

The researchers point out that melting measured by the study does not imply that the ice shelf is currently unstable.

(Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)