Third largest iceberg ever torn apart from Antarctica

in news •  7 years ago 

What scientists have been afraid for a long time has become reality: the third largest iceberg ever has now been completely torn off the Larsen C-iceberg in Antarctica.


© AP/AFP.

About a month ago the ice was still attached to the Larsen C-ice plate with a lengthof almost 13 kilometers.. On Monday, the final rupture occurred. Images of the fracture are not yet available. The news was confirmed today by both the Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung in Bremen as researchers at the University of Swansea.

Ice sheet Larsen C is a total of about 50,000 km². The piece of ice that has now broken of is approximately 5,000 km².

Larsen C has lost more than 10 percent of her mass. What the consequences are for the stability of the ice sheet is unclear. Larsen C is the fourth largest ice sheet of Antarctica. Given the loose iceberg already floats on the water, it will not have an impact on the sea level. But it is part of the gigantic ice sheet Larsen C that includes glaciers. If ultimately exposed to the ocean, the sea level could rise 10 centimeters worldwide, scientists think.

Scientists fear that the complete ice sheet can become unstable through the tear and Larsen C eventually will have the same fate as his neighbor Larsen B. That completely disintegrated in a similar scenario in 2002. In 1995, Larsen A ice sheet disappeared.

Source: Belga

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  ·  7 years ago (edited)

I hate the fact that humanity will actually take radical steps for saving this climate, which actually brought to life milions of creatures just than, when we as people get to the point that we might dissapear as spieces, not before.. than it will actually take 5 times longer period to fix situation to make it go in better way.. question is will humanity do this early enough, or we will watch how planet is changing for better but it will be so late .. It is unfortunate truth that money means a lot more to people in power than life on earth...paradox.. similar to win and get the huge amount of money on bet, guessing proper date of apocalipse .. :) what for? and by the way.. good luck on betting ;)

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

The human race doesn't have the technology to control the Earth's climate. We cannot do it. No matter what position you take in the debate over whether man is causing the climate to change, regardless whether you trust global political forces to confiscate the wealth of the people of the world with a promise to "rescue" us from the climate, it is not within our grasp to do any such thing. All climate models fail spectacularly in predicting future climate changes. The data used to build these models is corrupted by fraud generated by con artists pushing an agenda.

The risk is serious, and very real. If we demand that the governments of the world join forces to "do something" they just might hatch any number of schemes designed to calm the fear their propaganda has produced. If they do they will be playing in a field where they don't know the rules, have no experience, and cannot see the long term outcomes. The climate may very well react to such schemes in unpredictable ways. We could launch the next ice age, or just as easily accelerate warming. We could create climate feedback loops that spiral out of control truly endangering life on Earth.

It is an ignorant plea to demand action for a problem we cannot fully understand from people who have not been able to demonstrate credibility on the topic with engineering technology that is beyond our reach.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

The problem is that with the current society is that people need to achieve things. Companies need to earn more money, produce more, etc. A widescale solution for the climate will require to cut profits and invest in less polluting ways. And if company A thinks: "If i am the only one trying to solve the problem, it`s not gonna help much anyway". Then it might be too late.