Larsen C - 5 Km Left To Go Before Calving; 1155 Cubic Kilometers Of Ice In New Berg - Phys.org

[hatrack]

All eyes are on Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf as a deep crack continues to cut across the ice, leaving a huge chunk clinging on. When it eventually gives way, one of the largest icebergs on record will be set adrift. Even before the inevitable happens, ESA's CryoSat mission can reveal some of the future berg's vital statistics.

Monitored by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar pair, the crack in the ice is now around 200 km long, leaving just 5 km between the end of the fissure and the ocean. While we wait for Sentinel-1 to tell us when this 6600 sq km iceberg is spawned, CryoSat can reveal what the berg's measurements will be.

This Earth Explorer satellite carries a radar altimeter to measure the height of the ice surface. In general, this information is used to work out how the thickness of sea ice and land ice is changing and, consequently, how the volume of Earth's ice is being affected by the climate.

Noel Gourmelen from the University of Edinburgh said, "Using information from CryoSat, we have mapped the elevation of the ice above the ocean and worked out that the eventual iceberg will be about 190 m thick and contain about 1155 cubic kilometres of ice. "We have also estimated that the depth below sea level could be as much as 210 m."

EDIT

https://phys.org/news/2017-07-giant-iceberg.html

[Botany]

1. And this is happening during the Antarctic winter too.

Last edited Wed Jul 5, 2017, 01:40 PM - Edit history (2)

I know it took many years to get to this point but the ice @ the
south pole should be growing this time of year.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/14/trump-tells-tangier-island-mayor-not-worry-sea-level-rise/394688001/

Trump tells Tangier Island mayor not to worry about sea-level rise

[OnlinePoker]

5. Because it's floating ice, it's still moving around

The crack was almost fully through by the beginning of freeze-up so it wouldn't take much to keep it moving. Unlike the Arctic, which hems in the winter ice in the basin, the Antarctic ice expands into open ocean so there is no fast ice to keep this massive berg locked in place.

[Botany]

6. Thanx!

I think it was on Valenitnes Day 2014 that the temp @ the north pole was 35 F.

From the movie chasing ice.

[Historic NY]

2. That iceberg is bigger than NY city which is 305 sq miles.

689ft below water and 623ft thick. @446 sq miles thats one big ice cube......

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I had read somewhere that the iceberg is bigger than the state of Delaware.

Iceberg: 6600 sq. kilometers
Delaware: 5060 sq. kilometers

[hatrack]

4. Or, it's about 1/4 the size of Wales

Biggest in the modern record.