While the internet was obsess over thatrectangular iceberg , some more upsetting icy behavior went down on the other side of the Antarctic .
The Pine Island Glacier has been breaking off monstrous iceberg over the retiring five years , presenting a worrying sign that the West Antarctic is destabilizing . The a la mode occurred this weekend . artificial satellite imagery register an crisphead lettuce roughly 115 square mile — five time the sizing of Manhattan — break off the front of the glacier . In comparison , TU Delft remote sensing expert Stef Lhermitte told Earther the tabular berg of viral internet fame is in all likelihood less than one square mile . fire up up , sheeple .
“ What is mostly noteworthy about this event is that the frequency of calving seems to increase , ” Lhermitte said about the big male child ‘ iceberg that break off Pine Island Glacier . In the 2000s , so - called iceberg calving event of this magnitude used to fall out roughly every five years . But since 2013 , there have been four calve eventsincluding one last year .
Icebergs discontinue off the front of glaciers on the regular because glaciers are giant rivers of crank . As the upstream ice flows toward the ocean , it put rattling focus on the frappe below , induce icebergs to photograph off .
But what ’s been happening at Pine Island Glacier in recent years could be a signboard the flow is increase . artificial satellite imagery put together by Lhermitte show that the have young front has slowly receded for decade before beginning a acute recession in recent years , including 3 miles of shrinking since 2015 alone .
All that activeness has contributed to make Pine Island Glacier themost quickly receding glacier on Earth . In addition to the calve surface area retreating , the chicken feed has gotten thinner by about a meter yearly over the past 15 long time while shedding astaggering 45 billion tons every year . Much of that is motor by warm water eating by at it from underneath .
If the disintegration continues , there ’s vexation it could head to something call marine ice cliff instability , where the paries of ice at the calving front get increasingly marvelous due to the down slope of the bedrock beneath it . This is expected to make the remain frappe more wobbly , like an ever - growing Jenga tower , and it could head to an even more speedy breakup of glaciers that causes ocean level wage increase to spike .
“ change at hog in footing of aggregate going and ice shelf retreat are perhaps more important for future sea spirit level wage hike as the PIG ( and Thwaites ) region is one of the potential blistering topographic point for next mass loss from Antarctica , ” Lhermitte say , look up to the glacier by its acronym as well as Thwaites , its next threshold neighbour .
So forget the freakberg and keep your eyes onwhere the real drama is .
Antarcticaice on tenuous iceIcebergs
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