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Giant iceberg headed for Australia
"A once-in-a-century cliff of ice"
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Satellite image
released by the Australian Antarctic Division (ADD) showing a
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11 Dec 09 - A giant iceberg measuring 140 square km (54 square miles) -
double the size of either Sydney Harbour or Manhattan - is headed for
Australia.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the once-in-a-century cliff of ice broke
off from Antarctica nearly 10 years ago.
Known as B17B, the mammoth chunk of ice - 12 miles long and five miles
wide - is about 1,700 km (1,056 miles) off Australia's southwest
coast, according to the country's Antarctic Division.
"B17B is a very significant one in that it has drifted so far north
while still largely intact," said Australian Antarctic Division
glaciologist Dr Neal Young, who spotted the slab using satellite images
taken by NASA and the European Space Agency.
Dr Young said if the iceberg on its northward path, it would eventually break up into hundreds of smaller icebergs.
The smaller icebergs created when the larger berg break up could become shipping hazards if they float closer to shore.
Australian authorities have issued a shipping alert over the gigantic iceberg.
Dr Young said an iceberg the size of B17B had not been seen so far north since the days when 19th century clipper ships plied the trade route between Britain and Australia.
Originally three times its current size, the iceberg broke off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf in 2000 along with several others, and has since traveled thousands of miles and a third of the way around Antarctica.
It stayed completely still in one spot for about five years, but is now on the move again.
Dr Young said sightings of large icebergs could become more frequent if sea temperatures rise through global warming.
Sure. Blame global warming.
It's interesting to note that three years earlier,
another family of icebergs
drifted along the east coast of New Zealand's South
Island.
Oceanographer Mike Williams told Radio New Zealand the
icebergs had
"pretty much the same origin" but that some had
probably been trapped
in the icy seas of Antarctica for longer, before being
carried north by the
currents.
However he was reluctant to cite global warming as the
reason for the large-
scale movement of ice. "We do have to change our
position a little because in
2006 we thought this was a 'once in a lifetime' event.
Icebergs are formed as the ice shelf
develops. (Grows, in other words.) Snow
falls on the ice sheet and forms more ice, which flows
to the edges, onto the
floating ice shelves.
Eventually, pieces around the edge break off.
See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/6768364/Giant-iceberg-heading-for-Australia.html
Thanks to Benjamin Napier, Kenny Meyers and Bill Pojedinec for this link
"This says
that icebergs like this haven't been seen so far north since the
days of the Clipper
Ships," says Benjamin. "Wasn't that BEFORE agw???
How could this be?"
"Take care and keep up the great work!" says Kenny.
Or see:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091211/wl_afp/australiaantarcticaiceberg
Thanks to Tom Meyer and Steve Barlog for these links
"Wait a minute," says Tom. "If icebergs were there back in the
19th century
in clipper ship days, that wasn`t global warming
then !! Goes to show, they
blame everything on global warming. More cooking
the science."
"If
this is caused by global warming," asks Steve, "why is it still floating
around? It should have melted."
Or see:
http://www.sphere.com/2009/12/09/huge-iceberg-heading-toward-australia/19272433/
Thanks to David Bronzich for this link
"Why is no one talking about this?" asks David