Growing Antarctic Crack Primes Delaware-Size Iceberg – Scientific American

Article Synopsis – A crack that could create an iceberg the size of Delaware – and destabilize one of the largest ice shelves in the Antarctic – has branched out and begun to widen more quickly. The new fissure has turned toward the shelf’s ocean edge, potentially speeding up the iceberg’s process of breaking off. Located on the Larsen C ice shelf, the fourth largest in Antarctica, the new crack is an offshoot of a rupture that gained notice after growing dramatically in 2014, and last year was forecast to cause the separation of a 1,900-square-mile (5,000-square-kilometer) iceberg within years. The loss of such a large mass of ice would create a “significant risk” of the shelf as a whole becoming unstable and breaking up. To read the actual article click here.

By Sharon Gray May 2, 2017 Newsletter