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.

[bkaycee]

Al Gore did it!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Sounds like the plot of the cheesy direct-to-video film Titanic II. On the 100th. anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a recreation of the ship, ordered by a tycoon, sets off on it's maiden voyage in reverse course (New York to London). Along the way the effects of Global Warming cause an iceberg to break away from Greenland and slam INTO THE SHIP, thus sinking it again in the same spot.

[Vaquero]

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

I wonder if Hank Johnson and Shela Jackson Lee cross check each others work.

[fieldmarshaldj]

The right alderman to pay off ? Jerry “The Iceman” Butler.

[RonInNaples]

OK, way to get my hopes up. My first thought was that CHICAGO had broken off and sank into Lake Michigan...curses, foiled again...

[Slyfox]

Are we all going to die?

Naw, just the Polar bears in the Arctic.

[jumperbones]

Go to bing maps and zoom out as far as you can. Look at the size of Chicago and then look at the size of the Antarctic. It’s like a piss ant in the Lake Michigan. Hardly news worthy unless you have a Global Warming Agenda.

[Steve_Seattle]

The Southern Hemisphere sea ice area is well above the 1979-2008 average. The Northern Hemisphere sea ice area is down by about the same amount, so the world’s sea ice volume (in square kilometers) is right at the 30 year average for the control period, despite what we’ve been hearing about the “vanishing” sea ice.

[hadaclueonce]

wish it was Chicago.

DC.

California.

Boulder Co.

[Fightin Whitey]

Wonder if it needs a junior senator?

Tanned, rested & ready!

[SERKIT]

The iceberg which is Chicago has successfully sunk the balance of the state of ILL-ANNOY which has failed in Titanic proportions.

[PistolPaknMama]

They should tax us more, so stuff like this doesn’t happen again in the future. We could have been hurt. /s

[Standing Wolf]

A brand new baby iceburg? Leftist extremists didn't abort it? Amazing!

[JennysCool]

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

Yeah, pretty much.

[Popman]

Will whales be seen swimming though downtown Manhattan....?

[Alex Murphy]

Sounds like the plot of the cheesy direct-to-video film Titanic II. On the 100th. anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a recreation of the ship, ordered by a tycoon, sets off on it's maiden voyage in reverse course (New York to London). Along the way the effects of Global Warming cause an iceberg to break away from Greenland and slam INTO THE SHIP, thus sinking it again in the same spot.

Ping to watch!

[angcat]

LOL

[Patriot Babe]

“TerraSAR-X”

Wasn’t this one of those cheesy SciFi 50’s movies?

[Pecos]

And that is why PETA will petition Congress to spend a gazillion dollars to “fix” the problem.

[N. Theknow]

Did any penguins drown?