Giant ice island set to break off Greenland glacier

New photographs taken of a vast glacier in northern Greenland have revealed the astonishing rate of its breakup, with one scientist saying he was rendered "speechless."

In August 2010, part of the Petermann Glacier about four times the size of Manhattan island broke off , prompting a hearing in Congress.
And researcher Jason Box of Ohio State University said another section, about twice the size of Manhattan, was now close to doing the same, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
In 2009, scientists installed GPS masts on the glacier to track its movement.

Alun Hubbard  /  Aberystwyth University, Wales, U

Taken nearly two years after the picture above was taken, this photo shows the extent of the ice loss. The channel is about ten miles wide.

But when they returned in July this year, they found the ice had been melting so quickly — at an unexpected 16-and-a-half feet in two years — that some of the masts stuck into the glacier were no longer in position.
Alun Hubbard, of the Centre for Glaciology at Aberystwyth University, U.K., said in a statement issued by the Byrd Polar Research Center that scientists were still trying to work out how fast the glacier was moving and the effect on the ice sheet feeding the glacier.
But he said he was taken aback by the difference between 2009 and 2011 when he visited the glacier in late July.

Advertise | AdChoices

Advertise | AdChoices

Advertise | AdChoices

"Although I knew what to expect in terms of ice loss from satellite imagery, I was still completely unprepared for the gob-smacking scale of the break-up, which rendered me speechless," he said in the statement.
Hubbard told msnbc.com by phone that he had gone to the glacier to recover instruments used to monitor the glacier and time-lapse photographs.
"What I saw there is this ice shelf is riddled with rifts and cracks. You can see another big rift another 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) back into" the glacier, he said.
'Extreme' Writing in the Annals of Glaciology journal, published on Aug. 22, the researchers said Greenland's glaciers had collectively lost 592.6 square miles of ice between 2000 and 2010.

1. Only on msnbc.com
   1. 

      AP
      US aims to track 'untraceable' prepaid cash cards
   2. Updated 48 minutes ago 9/1/2011 12:16:38 PM +00:00 Storm outages endanger those on home oxygen
   3. 

      AP file
      Updated 80 minutes ago 9/1/2011 11:43:50 AM +00:00 Major retailers that can't get it together online
   4. 

      Reuters
      Updated 79 minutes ago 9/1/2011 11:45:27 AM +00:00 ConsumerMan: Gold prices, scams are on rise
   5. 

      Reuters
      Updated 93 minutes ago 9/1/2011 11:31:20 AM +00:00 Hurricane spells more bad news for homeowners
   6. 

      Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio
      Vast ice island set to break off Greenland glacier
   7. 

      msnbc.com
      In NJ town, entire lives piled high on sidewalks

The August 2010 "calving" event saw the creation of an ice island of 112 square miles, causing the Petermann Glacier to retreat by about 8 miles.
Story: Giant ice island breaks off Greenland The island contained enough water to keep the Delaware or Hudson rivers flowing for two years or to provide the entire U.S. with tap water for 120 days, Andreas Muenchow, professor of ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware, said at the time.
The Byrd center statement, which summarized the journal report, said while this loss of ice was "extreme compared with others ... it is part of a larger pattern of ice area loss concentrated in north Greenland."
Video: Why is climate change still doubted? (on this page) Twice as many glaciers are retreating as the number that are advancing, and the area of ice lost was nine times the amount gained, the researchers found.
'Harbinger of many changes' At the Congressional hearing in August 2010, the then chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Rep. Edward Markey, said the melting of the Greenland ice sheet was "but one harbinger of the many changes to come."
"Scientists, skeptical by both nature and training, always urge a dose of caution when looking at any one event as evidence of climate change," he said in his opening statement. "This level of professional skepticism is what makes the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by man all the more powerful."
Markey listed extreme weather events, such as a record-breaking heatwave and drought in Russia, extreme floods in Asia, record-breaking temperatures on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and "mega storms and floods" in many parts of the country.
"Take a step back from these individual pieces and we see a mosaic that could not be clearer. Our world is becoming less hospitable with every passing year," he added.

By Ian Johnston taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44353322/ns/us_news-environment/