The waning is happening on the Larsen B ice shelf, one of three shelves that make up the Larsen Ice Shelf.

CNN: Satellite documents thinning ice shelf

Larsen B, a 1, 254-square-mile ice shelf, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island, collapsed in 2002, the group said.

CNN: Massive ice shelf on verge of breakup

The scientists say that this is what happened in 2002 on the Antarctic peninsula when the Larsen B shelf collapsed spectacularly in just a month.

BBC: West Antarctic Ice Sheet warming twice earlier estimate