Cracks Signal Massive Iceberg Forming In Antarctica

Several readers have submitted news (as covered by an AFP article carried by the Sydney Morning Herald) that a massive iceberg is forming in the Antarctic. The rift in the PIne Island Glacier "is widening at a rate of two metres a day, said NASA project scientist Michael Studinger. When the ice breaks apart, it will produce an iceberg more than 880 square kilometres, said Mr Studinger, who is part of the US space agency's IceBridge project. But the process is not a result of global warming, he said." Also at the BBC.

Re:Not a result of Global Warming.

[DamonHD]

It seems reasonable and responsible to avoid this being dragged into the AGW/CC debate one way or another if the scientists concerned are pretty sure that CC plays no significant part in this event, because lots of glacier/calving activity *has* been tied to CC, pro or anti.

So, it wouldn't be ignorance that would lead people to wonder. And thus forestalling inappropriate linkage is good.

Rgds

Damon

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Climate Change, not Global Warming

[Joce640k]

Both of those are real things, one of them leads to the other.

Actually not as much as you'd think

[NotSoHeavyD3]

On this image of antartic elevation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AntarcticBedrock.jpg [wikipedia.org] you can see alot of what we think of the continent of Antartica would actually be open ocean if the ice wasn't there. (As it's below sea level.)

Re:See?

[Anonymous Coward]

At my workplace, we have a "green" initiative. In our breaks rooms we swapped out the plastic coffee stirs with wooded ones because they are biodegradable. We swapped out paper cups with plastic ones to save trees.
I'm so confused...
 

Re:Clash of the titans

[Anonymous Coward]

The same thing that happens when similar sized bergs hit land, as they do all the time in the polar regions.

They ground in water which is about 100-200ft depth, and leave big gouges in the bottom.

Re:See?

[jbengt]

If the glaciers were melting, they wouldn't be pushing into the ocean to break off and form icebergs.

Actually, there is evidence that warming can cause meltwaters to get under glaciers and lubricate them, causing faster flow downhill. And for glaciers that end in ice shelves in the ocean, warming can cause the ice shelf to break up into icebergs faster. And when the ice shelf is reduced, it presents less resistance to the glacier flowing into the ocean, further increasing the extent of ocean ice. So, until the ice melts so much that the glaciers no longer flow into the ocean, warming will most likely cause more icebergs.