The Cryosphere Discussions www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net 1994-0432 1994-0440 3 2 2009 10.5194/tcd-3-579-2009 http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/3/579/2009/ http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/3/579/2009/tcd-3-579-2009.html http://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/3/579/2009/tcd-3-579-2009.pdf 579 630 2009-08-14 Overview of areal changes of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 50 years A. J. Cook acook@bas.ac.uk D. G. Vaughan British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK In recent decades, seven out of twelve ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) have either retreated significantly or have been almost entirely lost. At least some of these retreats have been shown to be unusual within the context of the Holocene and have been widely attributed to recent atmospheric and oceanic changes. To date, measurements of the area of ice shelves on the AP have either been approximated, or calculated for individual shelves over dissimilar time intervals. 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