Giant iceberg splits from Antarctic

[SecularMotion]

Source: BBC

The giant block is estimated to cover an area of roughly 6,000 sq km; that's about a quarter the size of Wales.

An US satellite observed the berg on Wednesday while passing over a region known as the Larsen C Ice Shelf.

Scientists were expecting it. They'd been following the development of a large crack in Larsen's ice for more than a decade.

The rift's propagation had accelerated since 2014, making an imminent calving ever more likely.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40321674

[longship]

1. It's freaking just past midwinter there!!

The thing caved in fucking winter!

It's the size of fucking Delaware, you know.

R&K

[Bengus81]

2. Soon enough when the daily temps are 75 degrees........

Republicans will work with others to have developers run down there and start building homes,condo's,Pizza Huts,Burger King,Taco Bell,Mobile and Conoco stations. The last great place on Earth to RAPE for Corporate profits.

[DK504]

13. I wonder if these criminals will realize

we are f-ed when DC is under water.

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. Finally, climate change Republicans can grasp: if you drop a large ice

chunk into your gin & tonic, it floods all over the table.

But those are, of course, countries disappearing under sea level rise.

https://weather.com/science/environment/news/20-countries-most-risk-sea-level-rise-20140924

[HuskyOffset]

4. Just to be clear

This was ice that was already floating in the water, so no sea level rise because this iceberg broke off. What it does mean is an acceleration of the flow of ice that is on land towards the water and that does mean sea level rise.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. ...

[zipplewrath]

8. Faster Melting

The real concern is where it goes. It will melt if it moves too far north, and that will add more (fresh) water to the oceans. Also, anything "trapped" in that ice can now be exposed. And, yes, it was "floating" already, but its structural connection to the rest of the ice, as well as the continent itself, meant that it could have been floating "higher" because of the support of the rest of the structure. It could now "sink" to it's proper depth. I also wonder about it shedding fresh water in quantities such that it is floating in very low salinity water and therefor "deeper".

[Towlie]

10. Sorry, no. There's no sea level rise issue here.

Know your science! When ice supported by land melts and flows into the ocean, THAT'S when the sea level rises.

[Yonnie3]

11. Yes, know your science.

Approximately one eighth of that iceberg is above the surface of the ocean. When it melts, that water contributes to sea level rise. So one could say that ice melting on land is eight times worse than at sea, but one can't say there is no issue.

[HuskyOffset]

19. Seriously? Know YOUR science

No, if the iceberg is floating in the water, the part that is above water doesn't DOES NOT CAUSE ANY SEA LEVEL RISE WHEN THE ICEBERG MELTS.

You can verify this with a simple experiment: put an ice cube in a glass of water, such that the water is even with the top of the glass. When the ice cube melts, no water will spill over.

[Yonnie3]

20. Glad to admit when I'm wrong and I was.

I am totally incorrect about the 1/8.

If the water in the glass is sea water and the water in the ice is pure water. What happens to the water level in the glass and its density?

[HuskyOffset]

21. Good question! I'm going to guess

that water level-wise it's still the same deal, i.e. the water level remains the same. There will be a slight change in density, as sea water has a slightly higher density than fresh water.

[Yonnie3]

22. After my earlier brain fart I shouldn't guess, but ...

I'll try anyhow

Sea water is ~1.03 density
Pure ice is ~.92
So the difference is about the 1/8 above water or 11% in sea water
Pure water is 1.0 so about 8% floats in fresh water

There will be a decrease of density of the sea water in the glass due to the decease in salinity cause by the addition of pure water. This will be a very small change in volume, I'll ignore.

This leaves me with 3% more ice floating in the sea than in the glass. Wouldn't this 3% add to the sea level? I'm not at all sure about this.

[Brother Buzz]

23. Think displacement, not density

If I row a boat filled with rocks to the middle of a pond and start tossing them in, does the level of the pond rise?

What if I row a boat filled with rock salt to the middle of a pond and start shoveling it in, does the level of the pond rise?

[pokerfan]

24. Fresh water is less dense than sea water

so there would be a slight rise as it melts.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18841-melting-icebergs-boost-sea-level-rise/

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. Knowing how to read is also important:

“There is a relatively small amount of ice behind the Larsen, so even if it all disintegrated, the contribution to sea-level rise would be modest, a few inches,’’ he said. Still, even a few inches of sea-level rise is meaningful, especially when combined with storm surge in low-lying areas.

“This is just the latest empirical evidence for what scientists have increasingly concluded in recent years,” said Michael Mann, professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and director of its Earth System Science Center. “Namely, that the West Antarctic ice sheet is less stable with respect to global warming than once thought, and its demise is occurring ahead of schedule, and with it, so is global sea-level rise.’’


https://thinkprogress.org/larsen-c-shelf-breaking-e2b8ba088512

[Achilleaze]

5. Thanks republicans

Because of their systematic spew of lies about this subject, repubes - and their ignoble Draft-Dodger-in-Chief, Comrade Casino - deserve full credit for this disaster.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. It's amazing the lengths the Chinese will go to perpetuate their hoax.

Somebody should tweet variations of that to @RealDonaldTrump or whatever his handle is and see if he retweets it.

[L. Coyote]

9. This is what happens when you let the Russians pick our president.

But you know they will still blame Obama.

[OnlinePoker]

14. It's been cracking for a decade.

I blame Bush.

[mdbl]

15. Wonder what the cottage industry that makes fun of Al Gore has to say about it

like all the right wing hate radio boobs and the a-holes on Fux Nooze.

[tclambert]

16. I'm sure Republicans have video of Chinese workers hammering away to extend the crack.

Those devious Chinese climate hoaxsters will stop at nothing.

[dembotoz]

17. lets tell trump he can charge extra for drinks at his properties if they have authentic ice berg ice

[Judi Lynn]

18. Trillion-Ton Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica

By Jeanna Bryner, Live Science Managing Editor | July 12, 2017 08:56am ET


One of the largest icebergs ever recorded, packing about a trillion tons of ice or enough to fill up two Lake Eries, has just split off from Antarctica, in a much anticipated, though not celebrated, calving event.

A section of the Larsen C ice shelf with an area of 2,240 square miles (5,800 square kilometers) finally broke away some time between July 10 and today (July 12), scientists with the U.K.-based MIDAS Project, an Antarctic research group, reported today.

Scientists discovered the birth of this iceberg in data collected by an instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, called MODIS, which takes thermal infrared images. [In Photos: Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf Through Time]

The iceberg was expected, though scientists didn't know when the crack in the ice sheet would finally release the floating chunk. The rift in the Larsen C ice shelf — the fourth-largest shelf in Antarctica — first showed itself in 2014, but it wasn't until November 2016 that satellite measurements revealed it had grown to more than 300 feet (91 m) in width and 70 miles (112 km) in length. The most recent measurements from this summer put the rift at 124 miles (200 km) long, with the now-calved iceberg hanging on by a thread; just 3 miles (5 km) of ice connected it with the rest of the ice shelf.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/59773-trillion-ton-iceberg-breaks-off-antarctica.html?utm_source=notification