Climate Central reports
[...] A massive iceberg roughly 225 square miles in size--or in more familiar terms, 10 times the size of Manhattan--broke off [from the Pine Island Glacier] in July 2015. Scientists subsequently spotted cracks in the glacier on a November 2016 flyover. And in January, another iceberg cleaved off the glacier.
Satellite imagery captured the most recent calving event, which Ohio State glaciologist Ian Howat said " is the equivalent of an 'aftershock'" following the July 2015 event. The iceberg was roughly "only" the size of Manhattan, underscoring just how dramatic the other breakups have been.
[...] The ocean under Pine Island Glacier's ice shelf has warmed about 1°F since the 1990s. That's causing the ice shelf to melt and pushing the grounding line--the point where the ice begins to float--back toward land, creating further instability.
[...] The glaciers [such as the Pine Island Glacier] and ice shelves [such as the Larsen C ice shelf, which is on a death watch] help hold back a massive ice sheet on land. Their failure would send that ice to the ocean, pushing sea levels up to 13 feet higher than they are today.
[...] Cutting carbon pollution presents the only path forward to stave off the worst impacts of a melting Antarctic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @08:27AM
What is a manhattan and how many football fields would that be? Or i don't know use some sort of meaningful measure like cubic km.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @09:53AM
Well, first you take Gabriël Fahrenheit's wife, and ask her if you could please stick a thermometer in her armpit ...
Then you use the resulting temperature scale to discuss a humongous chunk of melting ice.
It's all quite logical(*), really!
(*) in the USA, Micronesia, Palau, Belize, Bahamas and Cayman Islands
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Sunday February 19 2017, @02:42PM
A Manhattan is a cocktail made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters.(according to wikipedia)
I guess it would depend on how small you fold them, as to 'how many football fields' you could put in a cocktail glass?
Anymore silly questions?