Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the breaking-bad dept.

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


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:27PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:27PM (#538151)

    Don't touch that dial! Stay tuned to find out what happens next in The Case of the Restless Ice!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:40PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:40PM (#538163)

      I've been finding this interesting. We get to be aware of a major geological occurrence as it happens. (Is this geology? Oceanography? Which Earth science is this technically?)

      I certainly find this more interesting than the latest celebrity gossip from the twit-sphere. I sometimes have a passing interest in sociology, where I'm sure the twit-sphere would make a decent subject of study, but I prefer the Earth sciences any day.

      • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:57PM

        by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:57PM (#538174)

        I'd bet it falls under Oceanography. Icebergs are not generally considered Geologic features the way something like a glacier would is and an iceberg has more impact on the marine environment than anywhere else.

        Of course there might also be a niche field with it's own name just for icebergs that almost no one has ever heard of before. I doubt that would surprise anyone here.

        --
        "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:46PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:46PM (#538194)

        It was glaciology until the other day. Now it's icebergology.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:44PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:44PM (#538234)

          Sounds like we need a study in ologyology to clear it up.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @06:58PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25 2017, @06:58PM (#544284)

            "Icebergology" is a real word BTW.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:51PM (3 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:51PM (#538169)

    we could use the water.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:59PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:59PM (#538176)

      You thought "Fiji" water was expensive? Watch how much they ask for Larsen C ice cubes (TM)(R)(C)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:04PM (#538179)

      You realize the city of San Diego will just enforce their "Pueblo Water rights" on it and charge you 1000x more than anywhere else in the world for every drop. They've done it before and will do it again. We pay about $200 month for water/sewer where the actual water used is $17... the rest is sewer fees, other fees, and taxes.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by riT-k0MA on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:59PM

      by riT-k0MA (88) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:59PM (#538206)

      Cape Town's closer and needs it more...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:55PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:55PM (#538172)

    Has The United Emirates laid claim to it yet?

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:27PM (#538187)

      ITYM Dubai. [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:21PM (18 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:21PM (#538185)

    If I hear about this goddamn ice chunk one more time!

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:49PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:49PM (#538195)

      You've had it with these monkey-fighting bergs on this monday-to-friday shelf?

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:52PM (2 children)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:52PM (#538198) Journal

      Unless it sinks another Titanic you probably won't hear about it again.

      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @10:06PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @10:06PM (#538386)

        How many Titanics has it sunk so far?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @03:38PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @03:38PM (#538736)

          None, but the chances that it sinks the original titanic are slim.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:17PM (12 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:17PM (#538220)

      Simply switch to Lamestream Media.
      Once you're consuming "content" from an entity which runs commercial ads for ExxonMobil[1] or Royal Dutch Shell or Atlantic Richfield, anything hinting at any of this will magically disappear.
      (They don't want to offend the customer--and -you- aren't the customer; you are simply a consumer.)

      [1] I've seen suggestions in alt-media [google.com] that this iceberg should be called out as #ExxonKnew.
      Investigation Finds Exxon Ignored its Own Early Climate Change Warnings [soylentnews.org]
      NY Attorney General Investigating ExxonMobil Over "Climate Change Lies" [soylentnews.org]
      Royal Dutch Shell Knew Too: Decades-Long Climate Lies [soylentnews.org]

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:47PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:47PM (#538271)

        yes, mega corps lie and so do your precious whore scientists.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @08:56PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @08:56PM (#538331)

          Somebody snapped, went off the deep end, reached the summit of Mt. Nutso, and made a quick stop at the loonie bin.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @08:43PM (9 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @08:43PM (#538320)

        Why would this "magically disappear"? It's not related to global warming, it happens all the time, it won't raise sea level one iota. The only reason to suppress this story is a concern that stupid people on the Internet would mis-report it - oh, wait a minute, there are millions of stupid people on the Internet, that might happen after all.

        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:25PM (1 child)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:25PM (#538358) Journal

          A small correction. It cannot be shown to be directly connected to global warming. This is not at all the same as saying it is not connected to global warming. There are clear indirect connections. True, they probably only affect the speed at which this kind of thing happens, but the speed is not unrelated to the size of the resultant berg, and it also affects the rate at which the glaciers are moving from the land onto the ocean (i.e., becoming ice shelves).

          --
          Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:43PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:43PM (#538370)

            It cannot be shown to be directly connected to global warming.

            I have no idea where people are getting this idea that climate change cannot be linked to any evidence. That doesn't even make sense. Here is a description of two of the people studying this discussing the evidence about a link to global warming:

            And while climate change is accepted to have played a role in the wholesale disintegration of the Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves, Luckman emphasised that there is no evidence that the calving of the giant iceberg is linked to such processes.

            Twila Moon, a glacier expert at the US National Ice and Snow Data Center agrees but, she said, climate change could have made the situation more likely.

            “Certainly the changes that we see on ice shelves, such as thinning because of warmer ocean waters, are the sort [of changes] that are going to make it easier for these events to happen,” she said.

            Luckman is not convinced. “It is a possibility, but recent data from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography actually show most of the shelf thickening,” he said.

            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/giant-antarctic-iceberg-breaks-free-of-larsen-c-ice-shelf [theguardian.com]

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by WalksOnDirt on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:15AM (6 children)

          by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:15AM (#538460) Journal

          ...it won't raise sea level one iota.

          Actually, it will [phys.org], just not very much.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:20AM (5 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:20AM (#538465)

            "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)

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:38AM (#538477)

              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

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:04AM (#538490)

                A bigger factor is that this ice hasn't always been floating.

                It is an ice shelf, by definition it is floating:

                An ice shelf is a thick floating platform of ice

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_shelf [wikipedia.org]

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:13AM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:13AM (#538493) Journal

                A bigger factor is that this ice hasn't always been floating.

                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

                by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Thursday July 13 2017, @02:30PM (#538698) Journal

                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

              by WalksOnDirt (5854) on Thursday July 13 2017, @02:27PM (#538697) Journal

              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.

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday July 13 2017, @06:55PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Thursday July 13 2017, @06:55PM (#538807) Homepage Journal

      If science bores you, why in the hell are you here? You just like trolling?

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:26PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:26PM (#538186)

    The most fascinating part of this has been watching almost all media and nearly every discussion on the internet act like this is an ominous portent due to climate change, except the people who study it.

    “Although this is a natural event, and we’re not aware of any link to human-induced climate change, this puts the ice shelf in a very vulnerable position. This is the furthest back that the ice front has been in recorded history. We’re going to be watching very carefully for signs that the rest of the shelf is becoming unstable.”

    http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/calving/ [projectmidas.org]

    'Andrew Shepherd, professor of Earth Observation at the University of Leeds, agreed. “Everyone loves a good iceberg, and this one is a corker,” he said. “But despite keeping us waiting for so long, I’m pretty sure that Antarctica won’t be shedding a tear when it’s gone because the continent loses plenty of its ice this way each year, and so it’s really just business as usual!”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/giant-antarctic-iceberg-breaks-free-of-larsen-c-ice-shelf [theguardian.com]

    I've never seen better evidence that this climate change issue is a religious or political thing for the vast majority of people. The mental gymastics they will pull to make this about climate change, despite being told by the researchers it isn't, are amazing.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:41PM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:41PM (#538192)

      Nobody in this discussion has said this calving has to with climate change, or with global warming. In general, though, if ice is warmed sufficiently it does melt.

      Project MIDAS is a UK-based Antarctic research project, investigating the effects of a warming climate on the Larsen C ice shelf in West Antarctica. Recent warming has caused large melt ponds to form on Larsen C during summer, which are changing the structure of the ice. The effects of this on the future of the ice shelf are still unknown.

      http://www.projectmidas.org/about/ [projectmidas.org]

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:51PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:51PM (#538196) Journal

        Nobody in this discussion has said this calving has to with climate change

        Nor did they in the source article.

        FTA:

        “Although this is a natural event, and we’re not aware of any link to human-induced climate change, this puts the ice shelf in a very vulnerable position. This is the furthest back that the ice front has been in recorded history. We’re going to be watching very carefully for signs that the rest of the shelf is becoming unstable.”

        And since it always comes up:

        "Whilst this new iceberg will not immediately raise sea levels, if the shelf loses much more of its area, it could result in glaciers that flow off the land behind speeding up their passage towards the ocean."

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:51PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:51PM (#538197)

        * has to do with

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:53PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:53PM (#538199)
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @10:11PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @10:11PM (#538389)

          Check the timestamps.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:55PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:55PM (#538201)

        Except that it is the mission of the organization to study the effects of global warming on this ice. That is the reason this thing is getting so much attention. If these scientists worked on curing diseases, they would generate news about something that matters, instead of this distraction.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:26PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:26PM (#538226)
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:47PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:47PM (#538236)

        GP gets the prize for bringing politics to this one. gewg_ gets second place.

    • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:28PM

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @09:28PM (#538363)

      Everyone loves a good iceberg...

      I think not everyone would agree.

      --
      "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:56PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @05:56PM (#538202)

    Well, your MOM calved a trillion ton iceberg!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @08:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @08:59PM (#538336)

      Steve? Steve Urkel? When did you start doing mom jokes?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:41PM (#538231)

    Happy birthday to our new ice lord.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Osamabobama on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:47PM

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:47PM (#538273)

    Did anybody else read the Clive Cussler novel wherein the supervillain caused a large chunk of ice to separate from Antarctica? His goal was to unbalance the Earth's rotation by redistributing the mass of the ice shelf further from the axis. The weird part was that all the characters in the book believed it would actually have an effect.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @10:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @10:19PM (#538392)

    That one was a real doozie. You don't see them like that any more.

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:16AM (2 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday July 13 2017, @01:16AM (#538495)

    I was president of our HOA some 25-30 years ago. They decided to add a sewage charge to our water bill. Within 5 years the sewage bill was equal to our water bill. Then they went all over the news media with "wahhhh! we haven't raised our rates in 5 years, we need moooore moneeeey!!!". Pointed out they had basically doubled their fees, the news media refused to report this. sad.

    What us San Diegan's pay for water, and what water costs the water folks, are completely unrelated. Sad thing is, when the water dept wants to raise our rates it only takes half of us to say "um, no, fuck off". But we can't seem to get 50% of ratepayers to vote, let alone vote "no".

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @03:09AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @03:09AM (#538532)

    Use proper metric units. That is an exagram iceberg: 1 trillion tonne = 10*18 grams = 1 exagram.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @07:37AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 13 2017, @07:37AM (#538619)

      Just what I need to cool my hellaflops (1027) supercomputer.

(1)