Ice bridge holding Antarctic ice shelf cracks up - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Ice bridge holding Antarctic ice shelf cracks up
Sat Apr 4, 2009 5:30pm EDT

OSLO (Reuters) - An ice bridge holding a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place has shattered and may herald a wider collapse caused by global warming, a leading scientist said on Saturday.

"It's amazing how the ice has ruptured. Two days ago it was intact," David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, told Reuters of a satellite image of the Wilkins Ice Shelf. "We've waited a long time to see this."

The satellite picture, by the European Space Agency (ESA), showed that a 40-km (25 mile) long strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins in place had snapped at its narrowest point of about 500 metres off the Antarctic Peninsula.

The loss of the ice bridge, which was almost 100 km wide in 1950, could mean a wider breakup of the Wilkins, which is about the size of Jamaica or the U.S. state of Connecticut.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5326HO20090404

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Earlier threads:
    Ice shelf about to break away from Antarctic coast
    European Space Agency - Collapse Of Wilkins Sheet Ice Bridge "Appears Imminent"

[MrPerson]

1. Because I told it a Polish joke.

[XemaSab]

3. Hey, this is SERIOUS FUCKING SHIT we're talking about here

So what was the joke? :P

[MrPerson]

4. The punch line was "They lost the recipe"

[XemaSab]

5. Hook a couple tugboats to that puppy and they don't NEED the recipe

:D

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Ouch

Now that's a twisted sense of humour...
:toast:

[MrPerson]

7. On second thought I'm really being insensitive.

I apologize.

[soothsayer]

8. Apologizing to the ice? The planet? To me? (I'm Polish)

lol

[MrPerson]

9. Both. Especially the Polish.

[VMSMI]

11. MrPerson

You are so sensitive. It's sweet.

[XemaSab]

12. Welcome to DU

:popcorn:

[XemaSab]

2. .

[pscot]

10. Google earth has the "before" image

According to the altimeter, the Wilkens shelf ranged from 2to 3 feet in thickness at the outer edge, to more than 60 feet in the vicinity of Latady Island. Judging from the pictures referenced in the OP, it's all gone; hundreds of square miles of it. Look at Google, then look at the pics above. Quite amazing.