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hatrack

(59,442 posts)
Sun Dec 4, 2016, 06:45 PM Dec 2016

NASA - Larsen C Ice Shelf Crack 300 Feet Wide, 70 Miles Long, 1/3 Of Mile Deep



The breakup of the massive Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica is getting closer and will eventually produce an iceberg the size of Delaware prowling the Southern Ocean, according to new NASA data. On Friday, NASA released an astonishing new image taken by researchers flying above the ice shelf on Nov. 10 showing the crack is getting longer, deeper and wider. Scientists think it will eventually cause a large section of the shelf to break off.

The scientists associated with a NASA field campaign known as Operation IceBridge measured the Larsen C fracture to be about 70 miles long, more than 300 feet wide and about a third of a mile deep.

"The crack completely cuts through the Ice Shelf but it does not go all the way across it – once it does, it will produce an iceberg roughly the size of the state of Delaware," NASA said in a press release.

When this iceberg calving event happens, likely within the next decade, it will be the largest calving event in Antarctica since 2000, the third biggest such event ever recorded and the largest from this particular ice shelf, scientists say.

EDIT

http://mashable.com/2016/12/03/nasa-photo-crack-larsen-c-ice-shelf/?utm_cid=hp-n-1#0zZcO_xUxmqQ
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NASA - Larsen C Ice Shelf Crack 300 Feet Wide, 70 Miles Long, 1/3 Of Mile Deep (Original Post) hatrack Dec 2016 OP
Worry not DavidDvorkin Dec 2016 #1
Kicking OKIsItJustMe Dec 2016 #2
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