NASA image proves massive crack in Antarctic ice is growing
Scientists are quick to point out that the crack isn't connected to climate change; they have been expecting a large iceberg to split off for some time.
By OurAmazingPlanet StaffWed, Feb 01 2012 at 3:50 PM EST
A massive crack in a huge sheet of Antarctic ice discovered in mid-October last year is steadily growing, as seen in recently released satellite images.
The fissure in the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf marks the beginning stages of the birth of a 350-square-mile (900 square kilometers) iceberg, part of a natural process known as calving.
The image was snapped on Nov. 13, 2011, when the rift was roughly 19 miles (30 km) long, 260 feet (80 meters) wide for most of its length, and 195 feet (60 m) deep. When researchers first spotted the crack in mid-October, it was roughly 18 miles (28 km) long.
The ice shelf is the floating end of the Pine Island Glacier, a slow-moving river of ice in West Antarctica that moves ice from the interior of the continent out to sea.
The recent discovery that the glacier has markedly sped up over the last decade has provoked a flurry of research interestin Pine Island Glacier and its ice shelf, whose sudden changes are almost undoubtedly caused by climate change and warming oceans in the region.
However, the calving iceberg itself is the result of a cyclical process, not climate change, scientists say.
In fact, researchers had been expecting the ice shelf to produce a large iceberg sometime soon. The ice shelf last produced large icebergs in 2001 and 2007, and these calving events appear to happen on a roughly decade-long cycle.
Photo: A growing rift in the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf. (NASA)
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Comments
Icehole
02/07/2012 11:54 AM
If we were taxed more, this crack would repair itself. It is that simple. The more money you throw at something the better off it is. Look at our inner cities.
mememine69
02/02/2012 15:28 PM
The Climate Change EXAGGERATION made fear mongering neocons out of all of us and the Bush family laughs as we condemn our own flesh and blood to the greenhouse gas ovens with childish glee. REAL planet lovers are glad, not disappointed the crisis wasn't real. Progressivism has moved on from the CO2 mistake. Climate Blame was our Iraq War of climate WMD’s and needless panic.
