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.

[airborne]

Bush’s fault . . .

[thackney]

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

Probably not at all. This end of the glacier is already floating in the water. The crack slowly grew larger over months as the support from the water was essentially the same on both sides of the crack.

[NonValueAdded]

The size of Chicago? ... great, there will be 72 shootings and 15 deaths on the iceberg this weekend.

[Mr. K]

That’s a great idea!

Call it “Another Night To Remember”

this time Leonardo DiCaprio is the first one to go down!

[thackney]

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

If you ever taste melted glacier, you would understand, NO!

Think of thousands of years collecting dust, bird poop, etc trapped in that ice, compressed down.

On glacier tours in Alaska, they scoop up some floating in Prince William Sound, wash it off with fresh water, put it on a platter with an ice pick. They invite to to chop some off to taste.

I could barely swallow with it in my mouth. If you are old enough to remember Alum being used for medicinal purposes, you know what it tasted like.

[Polyxene]

Should I be scared? What do the talking heads on The Weather Channel say? Is Jim Cantore there to report?

[citizen]

That ship looks unsinkable.

[TurboZamboni]

maybe our brilliant feral goobermint can declare it a national park.

[Youngman542012]

I bet the baseball is better....

[EQAndyBuzz]

I guess Alien vs Predator 2 will be filmed somewhere else.

[D_Idaho]

Yes, because “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.”

[Vendome]

Surfs up...

[TurboZamboni]

At least the iceberg won the Stanley Cup.

[JennysCool]

Ha!

[MomwithHope]

LOL Post of the day!

[NCC-1701]

“...Did any penguins drown?...”

No, but there are some well fed sharks swimming around the area.

[Redmen4ever]

In other news, White Star Lines announces the launching of its new, “unsinkable” luxury ocean liner, which will attempt to break the record for crossing the Pacific Ocean on its maiden voyage.

[dfwgator]

I blame the Jooooos.....

Iceberg, Goldberg, Greenberg, what’s the difference?

[goat granny]

On my last trip to Alaska, the ship cruised close to the Mendelssohn (may be spelled wrong) glacier, It calfs all the time...you can hear the cracking of the ice and then have to scan the 6 mile face to see the fall of the ice. We were told the natives called the glacier “white thunder” because that is what it sounds like before calfing...Goes on constantly, most of the time you didn't see the ice break off until you saw it hit the water, not much of a wave but it surely is quite loud, Don't know about the size of Chicago, but huge pieces keep breaking off as the glacier moves. My daughter got some good pictures of the calfing, the ship spent about 1/2 hour just going very slow pass the glacier so everyone could ooh and ahhh watching.

[prplhze2000]

Finally happening. Crustal Displacement.