In December 2006 it was reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Australian scientists were heading to the Amery Ice Shelf to investigate enormous cracks that had been forming for over a decade at a rate of three to five metres a day. These fractures threaten to break off a 900 square kilometre piece of the Amery Ice Shelf. Scientist want to discover what is causing the cracks, as there has not been similar activity since the 1960s. However, the head of research believes that it is too early to attribute the cause to Global Warming as there is the possibility of a natural 50-60 year cycle being responsible.
The Amery Basin is an undersea basin north of the Amery Ice Shelf. The Amery Ice Shelf is very tiny compared to the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.