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A one trillion tonne iceberg – one of the biggest ever recorded - has calved away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The calving occurred sometime between Monday 10th July and Wednesday 12th July 2017, when a 5,800 square km section of Larsen C finally broke away. The iceberg, which is likely to be named A68, weighs more than a trillion tonnes. Its volume is twice that of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes.
http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/calving/
Also at BBC, PBS, The Guardian, and The Verge.
Complete Calving Coverage:
Antarctic Larsen C Ice Shelf to Calve; Halley VI Research Station Plans Move
Antarctic Ice Rift Close to Calving, After Growing 17km in 6 Days
Delaware-Sized Iceberg Could Break Off of Antarctica at Any Moment
Larsen C Rift Branches as it Comes Within 5 km of Calving
(Score: 3, Informative) by WalksOnDirt on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:15AM (6 children)
Actually, it will [phys.org], just not very much.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:20AM (5 children)
"But while the birth of the huge iceberg might look dramatic, experts say it will not itself result in sea level rises. “It’s like your ice cube in your gin and tonic – it is already floating and if it melts it doesn’t change the volume of water in the glass by very much at all,” said Hogg."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/giant-antarctic-iceberg-breaks-free-of-larsen-c-ice-shelf [theguardian.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:38AM (3 children)
You have to wonder on whose payroll these "experts" are.
The post by WalksOnDirt mentions the difference in fresh water vs salt watter.
Yeah, that's a factor.
A bigger factor is that this ice hasn't always been floating.
It was part of the continental mass and -now- is floating.
True, an ice cube that is -already- in your drink won't raise the level of the fluid as it melts.
An ice cube that you take out of the bucket and drop into your drink WILL raise the level of the fluid.
This isn't even junior high Science.
Kids figure this out the first time they make their own iced drink.
Why you (and the "experts") don't grasp the concept remains a significant question.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:04AM
It is an ice shelf, by definition it is floating:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_shelf [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:13AM
When was it last not floating? My understanding is that while the ice of the shelf is relatively young (according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], about two centuries maximum age), the ice shelf itself has been floating for much longer than a couple of centuries and hence, has been around since before the industrial age.
(Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Thursday July 13 2017, @02:30PM
A fresh ice cube melting in fresh water won't. It will, slightly, if the water is salty.
(Score: 2) by WalksOnDirt on Thursday July 13 2017, @02:27PM
Which is in accord with what I said. There is only a slight change in volume from melting floating fresh ice into sea water, but it is definitely not none. Actually look at the link I posted, instead of ignoring it.