A Massive Iceberg Just Broke Off Of Antarctica (The Size of Chicago)

Business Insider ^ | 07/11/2013 | Denise Chow

[SeekAndFind]

A massive iceberg, larger than the city of Chicago, broke off of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier on Monday (July 8), and is now floating freely in the Amundsen Sea, according to a team of German scientists.

The newborn iceberg measures about 278 square miles (720 square kilometers), and was seen by TerraSAR-X, an earth-observing satellite operated by the German Space Agency (DLR). Scientists with NASA's Operation IceBridgefirst discovered a giant crack in the Pine Island Glacier in October 2011, as they were flying over and surveying the sprawling ice sheet.

At that time, the fissure spanned about 15 miles (24 km) in length and 164 feet (50 meters) in width, according to researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. In May 2012, satellite images revealed a second rift had formed near the northern side of the first crack.

"As a result of these cracks, one giant iceberg broke away from the glacier tongue," Angelika Humbert, a glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, said in a statement.

[MrB]

I bet the murder rate is lower, though...

[jsanders2001]

Hopefully headed toward Kalifornia or New York

[Wiggins]

I wonder if you are allowed to carry a gun on it?

[DonaldC]

I’m sure this has happened for ages...

[SeekAndFind]

[Steely Tom]

Wow. I’m sure this has never happened before, in the history of the world.

[Fightin Whitey]

Looks a lot whiter than Chicago.

[FreeAtlanta]

I bet it was spectacular. I wonder if it made much of a wave.

[massmike]

[MrB]

Cleaner, too, I bet.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wonder if it needs a junior senator ?

[Magnum44]

I hope Antarctica does not tip over, like what happened to Guam...

[Vaquero]

Yup iceberg big as Chicago would have a lower crime rate. My thoughts exactly

[fieldmarshaldj]

On a Chicago iceberg, only the criminals are allowed to carry guns.

[tpmintx]

I can only imagine the tsunami-sized wave that was created when this thing broke off.</sarc>

[listenhillary]

Are we all going to die?

[slouper]

It could be the perfect source of water for cities in the desert. No?

[TurboZamboni]

This also means the iceberg can be bribed into going back to sea if the right alderman gets a cut.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Here I was thinking “Tequila and mix” to go with all that ice and salt.