Iceberg Twice the Size of NYC to Break from Antarctic Ice Shelf

[G_j]

Source: US News & World Report

Humans first established a presence on the ice shelf in 1955, but cracks growing across the shelf continue to widen, leading to a likely separation. A crack of particular concern for scientists is the Halloween crack. It first appeared in October 2016 and has continued to grow eastward, according to NASA.

Additionally, a rift in the ice shelf that had been stable for 35 years recently began growing northward as fast as 2.5 miles per year. When the rift grows to meet the crack, an area of ice 660 miles wide will break away from the shelf. Although it won't be the largest iceberg to break away from Antarctica, it is likely to be the largest to break from the Brunt Ice Shelf since observations began there in 1915, NASA said.

Joe MacGregor, a glaciologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said that "it's possible that the ice shelf will be destabilized," and scientists are observing to see if the ice shelf will become unstable or trigger more changes.

The potential break has prompted concerns over safety for people working on the shelf, including researchers at the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Station. According to NASA, this area is a "major base for Earth, atmospheric and space science." It is open year-round, but has closed twice recently because of unpredictable changes in the ice.

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Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-02-25/nasa-iceberg-twice-the-size-of-new-york-city-to-break-from-antarcticas-brunt-ice-shelf%3fcontext=amp

[Mr. Quackers]

1. nothing to see here

move along.

[SpankMe]

2. Global warming? What global warming?

Can't you see that this thing breaking off is a huge block of ICE?! How can you have ice if it's getting warmer!!

Wake up, sheeple!


For you Sheldon Coopers out there:

[G_j]

3. Evidence for man-made global warming hits 'gold standard': scientists

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-temperatures/evidence-for-man-made-global-warming-hits-gold-standard-scientists-idUSKCN1QE1ZU?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews


OSLO (Reuters) - Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a “gold standard” level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said on Monday.

“Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals,” the U.S.-led team wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over the past 40 years.

They said confidence that human activities were raising the heat at the Earth’s surface had reached a “five-sigma” level, a statistical gauge meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance that the signal would appear if there was no warming.

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