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Friday, July 7, 2017

Delaware-Size Iceberg Is About to Break Off of Antarctica

"Antarctica's Larsen C ice sheet is flowing fast. In fact, it is speeding up, indicating that a massive iceberg could break off, or calve, anytime now..."

"When the inevitable ice calving comes, the sheet will birth an iceberg approximately the size of Delaware, and will remove between 9 and 12 percent of Larsen C's total area. This could speed the dissolution of the shelf and remove some of the barrier that dams the land-based ice behind the floating ice shelf from the sea...."

"The Larsen ice shelf, which is along the northeast coast of the Antarctic peninsula abutting the Weddell Sea, has already lost 75 percent of its mass since 1995 when...about 580 square miles of the Larsen A portion of the sheet broke away. In 2002, 1,255 square miles of the Larsen B ice sheet calved off."

"Now, researchers have observed that the seaward side of the rift has tripled in speed and is now flowing 33 feet per day..."

"The iceberg remains attached to the ice shelf, but its outer end is moving at the highest speed ever recorded on this ice shelf.... after the calving event, Larsen C likely will be less stable and more prone to a total collapse."

https://www.livescience.com/59653-huge-iceberg-about-to-break-off-antarctica.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170707-ls

https://www.livescience.com/59653-huge-iceberg-about-to-break-off-antarctica.html


Antarctica Is Melting: Giant Ice Cracks Are Prelude
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/07/antarctica-sea-level-rise-climate-change/