World's Biggest Iceberg Begins Moving

Las Vegas Sun ^ | April 03, 2005 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

7 WELLINGTON, New Zealand The world's biggest iceberg has begun moving nearly three months after it stopped its slow float toward colliding with a huge Antarctic ice tongue, New Zealand officials said Monday.

Known as B15A, the giant iceberg, a remnant of a Ross Ice Shelf fracture in 2000, is now moving slowly northward out of McMurdo Sound, where it had been blocking sea access, Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said.

He said the iceberg is moving just over a half-mile a day.

Earlier, B15A, which is 1,200 square miles and contains enough water to feed the River Nile for 80 years, was expected to smash into the ice tongue, possibly cracking it apart.

"We know very little about what makes this thing tick. Every time someone has made a prediction about it, they've been proved wrong," Sanson said.

B15A has blocked wind and water currents that break up ice floes in McMurdo Sound during the Antarctic summer, causing a build-up of ice behind it. The U.S. McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base are located on the sound, while Italy's Terra Nova base is nearby.

The iceberg and the ice buildup have been in the path of ships supplying fuel and food for the three stations.

The ice blockage has also threatened penguin breeding colonies, with tens of thousands of Adele penguin chicks facing starvation as parent birds are forced to trudge up to 110 miles to open sea to gather food.

Sanson said the "pleasant surprise" had been that the movement of the iceberg had cleared a narrow channel through the sea ice for about 20 miles toward the pier at McMurdo Station.

"It still hasn't cleared (out of the area) but it's moving in the right direction," he said.

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The penguins are saved....not sure about the Scientists...

Earlier thread:

Biggest iceberg threat to penguins, scientists(Global Warming Of Course)

[Red Sea Swimmer]

Quite a few years ago now, I think it was in the early 1980's a very successful entrepreneur named Dick Smith who ran a chain of Electronics shops got a huge PR boost when he said that he was going to tow an iceberg from Antarctica to Sydney Harbour. His rationale was that as Australia was a very dry continent, it needed all the water it could get. If this first venture was successful then hundreds of massive icebergs would soon be being towed from Antarctica to the Great Southern Land to quench the dry interior.

Comes dawn of the big Autumn day...Hundreds of media personnel were assembled at the Sydney Heads and in little boats in the Harbour with their cameras at the ready.

Great excitement was in the ranks. The iceberg's size and shape looked very impressive. Then slowly it dawned on everyone that it didn't look quite right. It wasn't glistening in the early morning sunlight. An intrepid young reporter raced to the Tow Boat towing the iceberg. He discovered that it was actually a very large papier- mache figure that had been really well designed. The press was in uproar. They had been hood-winked.

The date was April 1st...

[SIDENET]

He said the iceberg is moving just over a half-mile a day

Iceberg world tour '05. Coming to a town near you!

[nuke rocketeer]

Better yet, when it gets into open water, land an engineer group on it to smooth it out and make it into an aircraft carrier!

[GRRRRR]

PIcture from Dec 2001

[GRRRRR]

[MortMan]

Where's Hillary off to now?

[Charles Henrickson]

[the invisib1e hand]

michael moore? what direction is he headed in?

[killermosquito]

I say let the penguins evolve their way out of it. Perhaps a few of them will learn to fly and a whole new species of flying penguins will emerge.

[Deguello]

"1,200 square miles and contains enough water to"

I would be more impressed with their estimates if the had given a volume in cubes rather than surface area.

[SlowBoat407]

"We know very little about what makes this thing tick. Every time someone has made a prediction about it, they've been proved wrong," Sanson said.

Yet we're going to turn this isolated incident into a dire warning that THE ICE CAPS ARE MELTING AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!

[NormsRevenge]

Whewww and whweww for the penguins..

this thing could supply the Nile River for 80 years?

That's a big 'un.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!

Nice Job!

[lillybet]

Its heading for Charles and Camilla's Wedding

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest. No ping to the list, just adding to the catalog.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
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[MeekOneGOP]

LOL!! Great job. :)

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks. :)