From the BBC: ‘Iceberg the size of Luxembourg threat‘ – click image for video and watch the collision of two giant ice masses. Of course 50 years ago, such things would likely go unnoticed without satellite imagery.
They write:
A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists have warned.
They say the iceberg, which is 78km long and up to 39km wide, could make it harder for the area’s colonies of Emperor Penguins to find food.
But British and Australian scientists disagree on whether it could also cause major problems to our own weather patterns.
Well so far, nobody at the BCC is blaming the collision on Global Warming:
BBC tells the truth – shock horror! – iceberg not caused by global warming
But I don’t think Joe Romm has weighed in on it yet. There’s still time. At least it’s not a bridge in Minnesota.
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B9B, the iceberg that caused this break off is 23 years old.
Shouldn’t it be melted away by now?
Nice how the area vacated by the glacier froze back over. I thought ice was melting, why is it reforming after it breaks off?
Isn’t it about time for Dr. Ted Scambos (love the name) of NSIDC to issue his annual report on a very rare ice shelf disintegration in Antarctica. Last year I did a google search on his releases and found about 5-7 instances since the 1990’s of an alarming report on this “very rare event”. Maybe he’ll skip this year, but with this.. wow, what an opportunity!
The berg has already docked, from what I’ve heard. Even if it drifted loose of land, it can’t get past the circumpolar currents.
Which is too bad. There are plently places that could use the water. It ought to be towed to Australia or Chile and relieve some thirsty towns there. Or just to equatorial waters where it could melt happily.
If we towed enough ice away from Antarctica we might be able to forestall the coming Ice Age glaciation. Because the dire problem facing Mother Earth is NOT warming but cooling. The cooling is due to ice build-up on Antarctica and the general reduction in oceanic temperature circulation that a continent on a pole causes.
We can’t alter the sun or the Earth’s orbital eccentricities, but we can move some ice around if we put our minds and backs into it.
Warmer Is Better — Fight the Ice
mitchel44 (12:21:22) :
B9B, the iceberg that caused this break off is 23 years old.
Shouldn’t it be melted away by now?
Why, that used to be the size of Texas! See how far it’s shrunk!
[/alarmist]
Oh my god…. I thought the BBC was meant to report news. The penguins are 300km away… “If the area gets choked up (with ice), then they would have to go elsewhere and look for food.” Like, maybe 300km in the other direction?
Yet another example of hysterical headlines from a non-event.
>>Are they now suggesting we put engines on the iceberg
>>and drive it back to the Antarctic coast?
Better still, put engines on it and drive it to Australia, where they say there is a fresh water shortage.
Or how about driving it into the Gibraltar Straits, and build a motorway across it to link Europe and Africa.
Or parking a lump in the Thames estuary, so we can build a decent airport for London on it?
You might snigger, but Winston Churchill did try to make an iceberg aircraft carrier during WWII. Habbakkuk. It did have some advantages over a steel version.
http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_Habbakkuk.htm
.
Luxembourg?
Dorset now!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1253919/Iceberg-size-Luxembourg-plunge-Europe-cold-winters.html
& its going to plunge Europe into cold winters.
No explanation concerning how.
Cool!
But seriously, it will be interesting to see where the Mertz (Fred & Ethel?) iceberg floats off to. The B9B berg that hit it seems to have hung around for quite a while after breaking off, and I’d guess the pair will probably cruise the south polar seas together.
At 1300 ft thick, that’s twice the thickness of the recently departed Wilkins ice bridge out to Charcot island.
jeroen (11:59:12) :
The iceberg is 3042km^2
Antartica is 14.000.000 km^2
A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists have warned.
They say the iceberg, which is 78km long and up to 39km wide, could make it harder for the area’s colonies of Emperor Penguins to find food.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
And their point would be?
An increase in icebergs—isn’t this just another indication that the earth is cooling?
Channon (13:34:11) :
& its going to plunge Europe into cold winters.
No explanation concerning how.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Ok, here’s the explanation:
when an acorn falls from a tree and hits you on the head that means the sky, what you see way overhead, is falling.
Quick! We must build a ship the size of France, so the berg can sink it. The Megatanic.
78km long and up to 39km wide
Pfft! That sounds about the size of my home city, which has a population of 840,000. But, heh, Canada is the second largest country in the world.
@Channon (13:34)
Well, I think choosing a county has a better ring to it. If you used the usual measurements it would come out as 0.15 sq. Wales, which doesn’t sound too impressive.
Actually Gloucestershire is a closer approximation, if we assume that the ‘berg is just over 3000 sq km.
aMINO aCIDS iN mETEORITES:
“Ok, here’s the explanation:
when an acorn falls from a tree and hits you on the head that means the sky, what you see way overhead, is falling.”
And here’s the graphic: click
The obvious question to me is did it jump or was it pushed? (Oh you know, the old skeptic in me). Just look where the impact is compared to the movement.
A glacier tongue projecting into the sea with an obviously formed crack finally detached at a point of weakness. WOW – headline news!
Prediction!
AGW caused one berg to ram the other, which in turn caused the earthquake in Chile leading to the earthquake in Argentina and then the smaller one in Oklahoma. The story of the tsunami is still being written but AGW will be the cause of whatever the story is.
interesting point, before Antarctica and Australia split there was no ice or snow on the South Pole. Ocean currents didn’t circulate correctly and the ocean never got cool enough.
neither here nor there but HAD some bearing on global temps.
( OMG!! I just couldn’t pass this one up. )
Kids in the background… Quick! Pull it back before someone sees it!!
I told those boys to never drill so many holes in a straight line…
Jim- but we were just makin’ sure man wasn’t affecting Antarctica!
As Mickey chimes in… it’s all the nuclear icebreaker’s fault…
Now you boys go tie that berg up so it won’t cause any mischief…
And you are all grounded, no more grants till you’ve learned a good lesson! ;-#
kadaka (13:17:39) :
mitchel44 (12:21:22) :
B9B, the iceberg that caused this break off is 23 years old.
Shouldn’t it be melted away by now?
Why, that used to be the size of Texas! See how far it’s shrunk!
[/alarmist]
Oh dear, B9B is only one piece, of what was once 154 x 35 km, http://www.acecrc.org.au/drawpage.cgi?pid=ace_internal&aid=797273
but try this old piece
http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/pastIssues/2002-2003/2002_10_27.pdf
I suppose it’s not peer reviewed, but very informative, for a gov publication.
Surprised Al Gore hasn’t claimed it’s going to do a backflip onto Sydney or something.
“They say the iceberg, which is 78km long and up to 39km wide, could make it harder for the area’s colonies of Emperor Penguins to find food.”
Hang on… doesn’t that mean that they (the penguins) wont have as far to walk and will be able to swim sooner to find …er… fish to eat in the …er… water???
and consequently will be able to get back to the colony to feed the chicks quicker so the colony will increase in size , thereby putting more pressure on fish stocks in the future…and that means less food for us…
Man … whatever happens we just don’t seem able to win at this nature thingy do we???
It has an interesting tongue like shape http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mertz_Glacier_Tongue_map.png that matches the shape of its glacial valley.
It is named after Xavier Mertz who lost his life in 1913 as a member of Douglas Mawson’s Australian Antarctic Expedition and was buried in the glacier. The glacier grows at 1km per year and its projection like shape made it vulnerable to calving.
Ya never know, X. Mertz may be floating away !