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World's Biggest Iceberg Begins Moving
Las Vegas Sun ^
| April 03, 2005
| ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted on 04/05/2005 1:32:23 AM PDT by 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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TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: archaeology; climatechange; environment; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history
To: farmfriend; SunkenCiv; NormsRevenge; Graybeard58; ZGuy; Gingersnap; Libertarianize the GOP; ...
2
posted on
04/05/2005 1:38:58 AM PDT
by
Ernest_at_the_Beach
(This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
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...
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
He said the iceberg is moving just over a half-mile a day Iceberg world tour '05. Coming to a town near you!
4
posted on
04/05/2005 3:40:17 AM PDT
by
SIDENET
(Yankee Air Pirate)
To: SIDENET
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!
To: nuke rocketeer
PIcture from Dec 2001
6
posted on
04/05/2005 4:02:19 AM PDT
by
GRRRRR
(America the Wonderful! Optimism beats Pessimism Every Time!)
To: GRRRRR
7
posted on
04/05/2005 4:03:35 AM PDT
by
GRRRRR
(America the Wonderful! Optimism beats Pessimism Every Time!)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Where's Hillary off to now?
8
posted on
04/05/2005 4:07:42 AM PDT
by
MortMan
(CON is the opposite of PRO. Is Congress therefore the opposite of progress?)
To: MortMan
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
michael moore? what direction is he headed in?
10
posted on
04/05/2005 5:48:03 AM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(In Honor of Terri Schiavo. http://209.245.58.70/frosty65/ Let it load and have the sound on.)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
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.
11
posted on
04/05/2005 5:55:01 AM PDT
by
killermosquito
(Hillary, go back to the little rock you crawled out from under!)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"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.
12
posted on
04/05/2005 6:09:08 AM PDT
by
Deguello
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"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!!!!!!
13
posted on
04/05/2005 6:11:35 AM PDT
by
SlowBoat407
(Everything that I've written on it for the past two years is GONE!)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Whewww and whweww for the penguins..
this thing could supply the Nile River for 80 years?
That's a big 'un.
14
posted on
04/05/2005 8:47:02 AM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
To: Charles Henrickson; Grampa Dave; MeekOneGOP
15
posted on
04/05/2005 10:26:03 AM PDT
by
Ernest_at_the_Beach
(This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Its heading for Charles and Camilla's Wedding
16
posted on
04/05/2005 10:34:32 AM PDT
by
lillybet
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
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.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
17
posted on
04/05/2005 12:06:19 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(last updated my FreeRepublic profile on Friday, March 25, 2005.)
To: Charles Henrickson; Ernest_at_the_Beach
18
posted on
04/05/2005 12:29:31 PM PDT
by
MeekOneGOP
(There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
19
posted on
04/05/2005 12:29:53 PM PDT
by
MeekOneGOP
(There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! Straight ticket GOP!)
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