A massive chunk of ice, the size of Manhattan, has been severed from Greenland’s Jakobshavn glacier, BBC News reports.
ONE OF THE FASTEST GLACIERS IN GREENLAND
During the summer, the glacier movies at ten meters a day, according to scientists, a pace which makes it one of the fastest glaciers in Greenland. Using the European Union’s Sentinel satellites, the European Space Agency has been monitoring the glacier and its activity.
According to the European Space Agency, the berg that separated from the glacier has a 12.5 square kilometer area and is about 1,400 meters deep, making its total volume about 17.5 cubic kilometers. Which means that the iceberg has enough ice to cover Manhattan with a 300 meter layer of ice.
LARGEST ICE CHUNK EVER?
Members of the Arctic Sea Ice Forum first observed the ice chunk separating from the Jakobshavn glacier between the days of August 14 and 16. The members have speculated that it may be the largest chunk ever to be removed from a glacier in Greenland.
In an e-mail to the Washington Post, Pennsylvania State University glaciologist Richard Alley cautioned against speculation. “Overall, I don’t think that they really can nail the ‘largest’ [calving event] or not,” the scientist said. “I wouldn’t get too excited on this, even though it is not good news.
WHY DID IT HAPPEN?
It is generally accepted by the scientific community that the reason why glaciers are globally melting at record rates and ice chunks are frequently breaking from glaciers is the rising temperatures caused by climate change. As the Post pointed out, calving (the separation of ice chunks from ice sheets and glaciers and subsequently falling into the sea) isn’t an uncommon phenomenon in this area of Greenland because of increasing sea and air temperatures in the region.
This increase has made the Jakobshavn one of the fastest moving glaciers ever, so “it bleeds ice into the ocean at one of the highest rates of any ice sheet on Earth” according to the Post. Research from 2012 found that the glacier pours out 150 feet of ice per day. This rate is three times as fast as the way that it poured in the 1990s.
CHECK OUT PHOTOS
Though it may be bad news, you can check out a great view of the glacier captured by NASA here.
