A couple of Reuters journalists are down in the Antarctic taking a snoop around at the moment. (British Antarctic Survey release)

One of their stories tracks the demise of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. “We’ve come to the Wilkins Ice Shelf to see its final death throes," David Vaughan, a glaciologist with BAS told Reuters.

The ice sheet holding the shelf in place is now, at its thinnest point, 500 metres wide. This could snap off at any moment, says Vaughan. It’s the tenth such shelf to fall to the mercy of the ocean thanks to climate change.

That the shelf is there at all could be a surprise to some – it was on the brink of collapse last March as well, which as we said at the time, was a story first emerging the summer before that.

In a way, it would be nice to be writing this story again next year, just because the ice shelf would have survived. But that seems unlikely.

Photo: Wilkins Ice Shelf from BAS Twin Otter / BAS