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NASA Eyes Colossal Cracks In Ice Shelf Near Antarctic Station (cnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the eyes-peeled dept.

NASA is keeping an eye on the Brunt Ice Shelf, home to the British Antarctic Survey's Halley VI Research Station, which has growing cracks that are threatening to unload an iceberg soon. "NASA/USGS Landsat satellites are monitoring the action as the cracks grow," reports CNET. "When the iceberg calves, it could be twice the size of New York City. That would make it the largest berg to break off the Brunt ice shelf since observations of the area began in 1915." From the report: An annotated view of the ice shelf shows the cracks as they relate to the Halley VI station. The crack leading up the middle is especially concerning. It's been stable for 35 years, but NASA says it's now extending northward as fast as 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) per year. As of December, Halley station was home to around 30 science and technical staff on missions to study the ice shelf and climate change in the polar region. The BAS completed a relocation of the futuristic-looking Halley station in 2017, placing it farther away from the unpredictable cracking. "It is not yet clear how the remaining ice shelf will respond following the break, posing an uncertain future for scientific infrastructure and a human presence on the shelf that was first established in 1955," NASA says. NASA says iceberg calving is "a normal part of the life cycle of ice shelves, but the recent changes are unfamiliar in this area."

67 comments

  1. You mean NOAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NASA is something different entirely. Stupid editors, or stupid human pet trump?

    1. Re:You mean NOAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is MAGA country!

    2. Re:You mean NOAA by Sique · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, it's NASA, not NOAA. The ice shelf gets monitored by the Landsat mission, which is a NASA/USGS program.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    3. Re: You mean NOAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's still small compared to the crack in Chris Christies' ass.

    4. Re: You mean NOAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How much crack can a guy hide up there?

    5. Re:You mean NOAA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not according to

      https://www.anandtech.com/show...

      Smell the glove as it were.

    6. Re:You mean NOAA by Mattcelt · · Score: 1

      Shit sandwich.

    7. Re:You mean NOAA by raind · · Score: 1

      My Attorney Got Arrested?

      --
      Get up!
    8. Re: You mean NOAA by Seewhatidonehere · · Score: 0

      The weather has been kind enough for me to allow huge sections of the antarctic ice shelves fracturing and completely being washed away out to sea in just 3 days yet none of that makes news. The site allows anyone to do the same and by changing the date of the images its easy to see what ice was lost in just a few days. Somber research, surprise and shock guaranteed.

  2. NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is it NASAs job to survey ice? (Is it because earth is in space?)

    1. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Because the breakup of this particular block of ice threatens an international weather satellite monitoring station. The satellites are in space.

    2. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by skoskav · · Score: 1

      It's a joint NASA/USGS mission, as per the summary. But even so, NASA's original mission statement could be interpreted as to cover earth science as well.

    3. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, thus proving GLOBAL warming not a problem because the SATELLITES are in SPACE.

    4. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      Also if they have expertise and the means, I don't see what the problem is, even if it's not within the exact original scope of the organization.

    5. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      The problem is Republicans are afraid of the reality becoming known and accepted, because it would both literally and figuratively rip their party a new science-appreciating asshole the size of Texas to Florida.

    6. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by religionofpeas · · Score: 0

      The problem is Republicans are afraid of the reality becoming known and accepted

      Why ? Reality hasn't stopped them before, so what's different this time ?

    7. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because NASA is devoted to planetary sciences, and the Earth is a *planet*.

    8. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by subie · · Score: 0

      Then I guess you should also include Dr. Patrick Moore, former president of Greenpeace being supposedly afraid of reality as well.....

    9. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by Layzej · · Score: 1

      You mean this guy? Yeah. I'd say.

    10. Re:NASA, mission statement: "We do whatever!" by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Then I guess you should also include Dr. Patrick Moore, former president of Greenpeace being supposedly afraid of reality as well.....

      This guy ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  3. Sounds like the beginning of the by bobstreo · · Score: 2

    movie Day After Tomorrow.

    May be time to move the habitat again.

    1. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just the Republican denialist faggots

      Yeah? You mean the like Clintons and the Obamas don't run around in a battle tank accompanied by a motorcade? Or like Malia not driving around in a Bugatti Veyron?

      American rope would not do, you need a good god-honest machete.

      Paid for by Mexico.

    2. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So your argument if we are to understand it is that because big oil "won" for the last 100 years and got subsidized to the point of creating a global problem that we exported to developing nations for miniscule profit, that we sold out our blood and treasure for in the middle east under the pack of lies that is US foreign policy since before Nixon to achieve a despotic cartel-level control over, and for whatever reason noting that the recent previous POTUS families have Congressionally appointed protection regimens and are until recently forced to combust gasoline to move around, as are/were the rest of us, because of the shortsighted greed of a few dozen corporations that you support and have benefited from, that somehow the big oil shills and Republican policies that bought this dystopia for you aren't responsible?

      Lol. I mean it's one thing to get fucked on your way to a Rush Limbaugh concert, it's another thing to angrily convince yourself you like it, because Hillary is worse/ugly/communist.

    3. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They're just consistent. The four steps of denial are:

      1. There is no global warming, you're faking it.
      2. OK, there is some indication that the earth is getting warmer, but it's not man made.
      3. Ok, so it is man made, but it's far from serious.
      4. Ok, it's serious and we're fucked, but it's too late now.

      The great thing about all four of them is that you don't have to do anything.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by mapkinase · · Score: 2

      These are not four steps of denial, these are four different denials

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    5. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Of course they exist at the same time. Different people are at different steps in their denial.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're just lame justifications. It'd be OK provided some rational fact-based arguments. Too late for that now that so many reports are all pointing to the same fundamental effects. Only unknowns left is scale of time, damages and any complications (cloud formations etc.). With more clouds, we won't grow more food though.

    7. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's an active Volcano under the ice shelf. Hopefully it will be public knowledge soon.

    8. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So I take it you're still at 1?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by HiThere · · Score: 2

      Well, a major series of volcanic eruptions could make global cooling the problem. You could probably achieve the same effect with a few asteroid impactors...but scaling them to be small enough to be relatively safe could be a problem.

      Most of the other "geo-engineering" approaches are seriously untested, and we can't guess what the side effects would be. The proponents claim there wouldn't be any, or that they'd be minimal. But they haven't been (and can't be) be tested at beyond a pilot stage scale without being committed to.

      E.g. A solar sail sunshade will cool the equatorial regions more than the poles, further decreasing the strength of the jet stream, and making weather much more irregular. What would it do to the ocean currents? What effect would that have? Etc. etc. etc.

      So there are still answers, but the answers have their own problems.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    10. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      They're just consistent. The four steps of denial are:

      1. There is no global warming, you're faking it. 2. OK, there is some indication that the earth is getting warmer, but it's not man made. 3. Ok, so it is man made, but it's far from serious. 4. Ok, it's serious and we're fucked, but it's too late now.

      The great thing about all four of them is that you don't have to do anything.

      Especially in places like slashdot you also get

      3. (a) OK, so it's man made, it's serious, but an unspecified technological breakthrough will be made to sort it all out, like it always has before, just in the nick of time.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    11. Re: Sounds like the beginning of the by Seewhatidonehere · · Score: 0

      Miniscule profit? 6.5 percent margin on 1.3 trillion revenue, just one year alone. Idiot.

  4. Re:Colossal cracks in the ice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The guy is the greatest security hole/threat our great country ever had since he posts everything he does online.

    First rule about security clearances is you don't tell you have one and you don't tell where you work and this dummy does both!

    Unless he is full of shit and he is just on a welfare check from Special Education of the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

    he posted this on Slashdot:

    The background file for my national security clearance got stolen by the Chinese a few years ago That contained a lot more information than the credit reports that Uncle Sam requested from all three bureaus.

    I guess that he will be out of a job soon enough so he won't need a clearance even if they don't take it away from him in the first place.

    He might also be criminally charged for endangering the integrity of our great country if what he says is true, which I doubt a lot. Chances are that he is on welfare with a bonus for his disabilities.

  5. Re:Homeless Hobo's for Global Warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FAKE NEWS Trump never lies! Not even once! FAKE NEWS Trump never lies! I never heard of it! FAKE NEWS Trump never lies! What problems? FAKE NEWS Trump never lies! FAKE NEWS Trump never lies! FAKE NEWS Trump never lies!

      Aww, prison?

  6. Prison? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/14/trump-owns-a-shrinking-republican-party/

  7. Another Brexit by bunyip · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm just wondering how long before the British Halley VI Research Station breaks away from Antarctica :-)

    A.

    1. Re:Another Brexit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They'll spend ages arguing about whether or not to have a No Relocation Bergxit where the station sails off into international waters independently to strike its own research agreements with other nations. Others will argue that most of the stations research is contingent on access to the Antarctic and so it would be stupid to leave when they've got such a good deal.

  8. Re:Colossal cracks in the ice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like you place more faith in government than is wise. You have visited the post office before, right? Ever see a war go wrong? Ever seen a recent war fought for a purpose?

    Anyhoo, he probably is a real government employee that will continue to be a mediocre human being. That is ok, since the government's main purpose is stability, it would never want people that are too smart or too stupid. He is living up to his average standards.

  9. Re: Colossal cracks in the ice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lol. I don't know who you are talking about but a background check is done for everyone working for the US federal gov't and for individual states employees. Security clearances are for military personel and for individuals tasked with liasing with them (private security details, offbase IT consultants, contractors, etc.) and the like.

    Telling someone you've underwent a background check and have security clearance is the equivallent of saying you took a test and now own a driver's license.

    He (or she) wasn't joking about the credit checks (security clearance requirements are to have good credit as you could be a target for foriegn intelligence agencies who could exploit your poor credit as leverage against you) nor China having his info (all active duty personel have had their info stolen in security breaches at various places and times and non active duty have had their info stolen in security breaches at the VA (which is a mess at the best of times)).

    So whoever that guy or girl is in in the military or was until recently.

    https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/chinese-hackers-charged-with-stealing-data-from-us-companies-nasa-navy-1.561432

  10. Re:Colossal cracks in the ice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Ever see a war go wrong?" - Yeah, to facilitate the capitalism you worship the altar of, and to facilitate the high-end way of life you by default enjoy as an ungrateful citizen of a nation with semi-tough law, Libertarian moron.

  11. Penguins by Gabest · · Score: 1

    And this is how South America got its penguin population in 2020.

    1. Re:Penguins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And this is how South America got its penguin population in 2020.

      Well, there has always been *native* penguins in SA.

    2. Re:Penguins by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Always is a bit dubious, since penguins haven't always existed. But they are, indeed, long term residents.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  12. Colossal cracks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More like titanic cracks.

  13. O look! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    An entire science thread full of troll posts. Melting of this site is confirmed.

  14. Fake news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah so many lies.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF7M-KzjrXY

  15. More NORMAL stuff by p51d007 · · Score: 0, Troll

    "NASA says iceberg calving is "a normal part of the life cycle of ice shelves, but the recent changes are unfamiliar in this area." Yeah, unfamiliar in this area, in the what, just over 150 years of watching it? Which is but a blink of an eye, considering the age of the Earth! It's called a CYCLE. It's been warmer, it's been colder, NOT because of "man".

    1. Re:More NORMAL stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I Agree. Its not like their haven't been icebergs in the oceans before. Everyone remember a little boat called the Titanic.

    2. Re:More NORMAL stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      https://xkcd.com/1732/
      This view is a bit misguided. It understates the rate of warming by a factor of several hundred. It's like saying that your car gets warmer and colder all the time the fact that it's on fire just means that its in a particularly strong "warm" stage of the cycle.

    3. Re: More NORMAL stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Are you seriously using xkcd as your science link? Really? You going to cite the onion, next?

    4. Re: More NORMAL stuff by HiThere · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't think you understand what xkcd is about. It often points out true things that people have are hard time grasping. The referred chart is one of those instances. It's not as if you can't check their data points in other references.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    5. Re: More NORMAL stuff by ledow · · Score: 2

      The science-based comic written by a scientist who worked building robots for NASA?

      Yup.

      Just because the media is considered "childish", the facts behind it are undoubtedly quite accurate (if not perfect). Also, there are entire books about visualisation of data that don't come close to what XKCD manages with its radiation chart and similar visualisations.

  16. Re: In before denialists... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF?

  17. Just Say No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Say no to crack!

  18. Re: Nonsense by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    At step 1. Noted.

    Hey, don't worry, you'll eventually catch up.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  19. They already have penguins in South America by turp182 · · Score: 1

    They are offshore, in the Galapagos. They also have flamingos just a few miles away. If you can, take a trip there, it was beyond amazing.

    Photos I took on the trip:

    Penguins:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

    Flamingos:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

    Full Photo Album:
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

    --
    BlameBillCosby.com