City-Sized Ice Shelf Breaks Free Of Antarctica

LeadSongDog writes "Germany's TerraSAR-X satellite is showing that the Antarctic's Pine Island ice shelf has calved a 'berg of 720 square kilometres, 'the size of Hamburg.' Angelika Humbert says 'The Western Antarctic land ice is on land which is deeper than sea level. Its "bed" tends towards the land. The danger therefore exists that these large ice masses will become unstable and will start to slide.' The article extrapolates that 'If the entire West Antarctic ice shield were to flow into the Ocean, this would lead to a global rise in sea level of around 3.3 meters.' Goodbye Florida.

Comments

FINALLY!

[Sparticus789]

I knew those 569 acres of land on the Arizona/California border would gain some value. Just didn't think it would happen so soon. Anyone want to buy my new ocean-front property?

Dooomed

[jellomizer]

Dooomed we are all doooom.
Dooooooomed!

Re:Dooomed

[Kenja]

Puny humans do not yet know the meaning of the word "doomed".

The poet Smash Mouth said it best

[Anonymous Coward]

Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire how about yours
That's the way I like it and I never get bored

Re:The poet Smash Mouth said it best

[Sooner Boomer]

Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire how about yours
That's the way I like it and I never get bored

Burma Shave

How's that?

[tchdab1]

Could somebody translate that into Chicago-units? Here in the US we're having trouble visualizing this.

Re:How's that?

[Bob the Super Hamste]

My guess is it is probably equal to about 1 Chicago proper but with fewer random shooting.

Re: How's that?

[jd2112]

apparently you aren't aware of how much penguin on penguin violence goes on in Antarctica. Much of it the result of arguments over which Linux distro is best.

New Unit!

[WillgasM]

I propose we swiftly adopt the "Hamburg" as a new unit of measurement.

Re:New Unit!

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course subdivided in smaller units, Hamburgers, of about 1/1.500.000 that size.

Re:Sea Level Map

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Sounds like we really need to install a drain in the ocean now.

let us celebrate instead

[1800maxim]

The oppressive regime of Antarctica has long been opressing its constituents.

The world celebrates the ice shelf's newly found freedom, and hopes this will pave the way to democracy in the entire region. When asked about what the ice shelf plans to do with its newly found freedom, it humbly replied "just going to drift a few kms that way, hopefully leading the way for many others to follow."

When asked for comment, the visibly agitated Penguin Brotherhood declined to comment beyond blaming the west-sponsored Carbon Revolution.

Re:Goodbye Florida...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't worry. You're already in Alabama, so it can't get much worse.

Here's my plan for Florida

[damn_registrars]

1. Tell everyone in Florida that 3.3 meters of water is coming

2. Allow the person who understands what 3.3 meters of water means to move to wherever they want

3. Celebrate

Re:Goodbye Florida...

[Black Parrot]

Mobile Alabama is already adjacent to the sea.

Plus it's mobile, so it can just move inland if the sea rises.

Douglas Adams, meet Anonymous...

[Thud457]

Either Jesus will come back and end everything before climate change makes a difference, or God will never let us hose His perfect creation.

The trouble is, there are folks in Congress who believe this and set policy based on it...

Maybe it's just time to build Noah's Ark II.

Also known as the /b/ Ark.