A Crack in an Antarctic Ice Shelf Grew 17 Miles in the Last Two Months

Jugal K Patel, writing for the NYTimes: A rapidly advancing crack in Antarctica's fourth-largest ice shelf has scientists concerned that it is getting close to a full break. The rift has accelerated this year in an area already vulnerable to warming temperatures. Since December, the crack has grown by the length of about five football fields each day (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source). The crack in Larsen C now reaches over 100 miles in length, and some parts of it are as wide as two miles. The tip of the rift is currently only about 20 miles from reaching the other end of the ice shelf. Once the crack reaches all the way across the ice shelf, the break will create one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, according to Project Midas, a research team that has been monitoring the rift since 2014. Because of the amount of stress the crack is placing on the remaining 20 miles of the shelf, the team expects the break soon.

Comments

Re:Well, damn

[Anonymous Coward]

You're up next. And you are guilty.

Re:Not believed to be because of climate change

[OakDragon]

Scientists actually don't believe this particular instance to be caused by climate change. So, if people could read up a bit ...

This seems counter-intuitive (since everything is caused by climate change). Do you have a source or link?

Re:Not believed to be because of climate change

[Njovich]

There is endless documentation about this. Even the article Slashdot linked says nothing about climate change. For a mainstream media example: http://www.usatoday.com/story/...
"There is no direct evidence to link this event to climate change, he added. Although the general ice shelf decay along the Antarctic Peninsula has been linked to a warming world, this rift appears to have been developing for many decades, and the result is likely natural, according to Project MIDAS."

Changes in the antarctic are a complicated subject, I suggest reading up before making assumptions.

Re:Not believed to be because of climate change

[Njovich]

Not sure if you are joking, but interestingly the Antarctic has been warming up for over 50000 years (obviously, not every year, decade or century or even millennium has been warmer than the last, but the overall trend has been one of raising temperatures). However, the amount of ice on Antarctica is actually still increasing (as warming doesn't mean that it's warm).

Re: Well, damn

[mrchaotica]

I mean, what exactly is wrong with our elected American leaders saying they are going to put forth and defend American interests first and foremost when dealing with the rest of the world?

If that's all it meant, it wouldn't be a problem. But it's actually a dog-whistle for fascism, and you fucking know it.

Was it about the same time it seems it became just plain wrong to be born a white male?

From one white male to another: fuck off with your bullshit feigned victimhood. It's not helping anything, least of all other white males!