All about Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves

Asked by Elli

I am an A Level student studying geography. I have recently taken up an EPQ (extended project qualification) and I am thinking about doing it on the Antarctic glaciers/ice shelves. Is there a specific area within this that you would recommend researching into?

Thank you!

Hi Elli,

What exactly does your project involve? A literature review? An extended essay? If so, then an investigation into the causes and effects of Antarctic ice-shelf collapse could work well. You could investigate which ice shelves have collapsed, why they have collapsed, and the on-going impacts of this collapse.

Alternatively, you could pick a glacier or ice stream, like Pine Island Glacier, Thwaites Glacier or Byrd Glacier, and investigate how it is responding to climate change. See the Glaciers and Climate page.

A third option might be to take a longer-term view, and perhaps investigate how the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet, for example, behaved during the Last Glacial Maximum.

You might find some of these resources useful, and look through the other websites on the Links page for more information on different glaciers. A critical thing will be to ensure you have enough resources to carry out your project. The important thing is to decide what interests you and go from there.

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