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German satellite on 'berg watch' (Pine Island Glacier) [View all]
The German radar satellite TerraSAR-X is on "PIG watch".The spacecraft, which circles the globe at an altitude of 500km, is returning regular images of the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) ice shelf.
Scientists expect its observations to alert them to the birth of a monster iceberg covering some 750 sq km.
A huge crack in the shelf was first noticed in TerraSAR-X data back on 13 October. A Nasa aeroplane also got photographic confirmation the next day.
The crack seems to have propagated in two main steps - the first break tearing a 24km-long gash in the shelf; the second, just a few days later, opening up the fracture to 28km in length.
A few more km and the tabular block of ice will be floating free of the shelf.
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17835476
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