Rhode Island-Sized Slab Of Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf Disintegrates In Less Than 24 Hours - 1/12-13/10

[hatrack]

Within a 24-hour space, an area of sea ice larger than the state of Rhode Island broke away from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf and shattered into many smaller pieces. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites captured this event in this series of photo-like images from January 12 and January 13, 2010.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/antarctica-ice-sheet-break-up-47011404#ixzz0cnyCmrDe

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[phantom power]

1. RI here, RI there... pretty soon you're talking TX

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Good thing there's not a lot of additional ice behind all this waiting to plunge into the ocean.

Because that would be really fucking scary.

Oh, and just in case this is actually needed: :sarcasm:

[gaspee]

3. Again with the RI comparisons!

And does anyone actually know how big RI is (or isn't...)

And in case geography isn't your strong suit, my icon is my state, which is... wait for it... Rhode Island.

To find out how big something "Rhode Island sized" actually is, scroll down.

















RI measures 60 miles North to south and 45 miles East to West. I love my state, but we get used as a comparison for everything and no one actually knows how big RI is - now that's kind of funny.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Can we please convert that into Football Fields, Elephants, or Olympic Size Swimming Pools???

These are, after all, the standards of measurement that we're most comfortable with.

:P

[OnlinePoker]

5. Look at the measure in the bottom right

25 km is about 16 miles. So this chunk of ice is about 30 miles wide by 70 miles long...2100 sq miles

[Po_d Mainiac]

6. We now know that Rhode Island is about the same size as an ice cube