big freakin iceburg breaks off of antarctica...we're talkin miles of it

[mojo]

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_547692.html


New iceberg breaks free from Antarctica

An iceberg more than nine times larger than Singapore has broken off Antarctica.

The National Ice Centre reports that the iceberg, named B-22, broke free from an ice tongue in the Amundsen Sea, an area of Antarctica south of the Pacific Ocean.

It is 40 miles wide and 53 miles long, covering 2,130 square miles.

The iceberg was discovered through photographs taken by defence satellites.

Icebergs are named after the section of Antarctica where they are first sighted. The B designation covers the Amundsen and eastern Ross seas and the 22 indicates it is the 22nd iceberg sighted there by the Ice Centre.

Story filed: 21:19 Monday 18th March 2002
cherry slushies sound good about now :lick:

[LPMiller]

got|Whiskey on the rocks?

[Speedfreak]

Centre? :heh:

[WhiskeyPapa]

Now we're gonna hear more belly-aching about global warming...

[coleslaw]

Nine times larger than Singapore?? What kind of a comparison is that? I have no real idea how large Singapore is. They should say that the iceberg is 1/XXth the size of the US or something like that. Compare it to something that I am familiar with! :(

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by coleslaw
Nine times larger than Singapore?? What kind of a comparison is that? I have no real idea how large Singapore is. They should say that the iceberg is 1/XXth the size of the US or something like that. Compare it to something that I am familiar with! :(

I heard it compared to the size of Rhode Island earlier today. Or you could compare it with something 40 miles wide and 53 miles long, covering 2,130 square miles.

Hey wait, my calculator says that 40 x 53 is only 2,120 square miles. Darn Europeans, can't spell "Center", can't spell "Defense" and can't even multiply.

[NuTs62]

time to claim my very own island!:D

[eSDee]

Wasn't there some other big ass iceberg that broke off a coupla years ago? If so then I guess it's just a matter of time before my house is beachfront property! (I'm 15 miles inland) ;)

[Kevster]

Originally posted by NuTs62
time to claim my very own island!:D

Be prepared to freeze those nuts off!

;)

[oblongmelon]

There was a big article in National Geographic not to long ago on B-22..the pictures of the thing were ENORMOUS~

[Merlin]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
Darn Europeans, can't spell "Center", can't spell "Defense" and can't even multiply.

Damn straight. I'll never spell "flavor" or "color" with a "u"

[whitak24]

my advice is to avoid getting on any large ocean-going vessels that are advertised as "unsinkable" for the next few months :heh:

[NuTs62]

Originally posted by whitak24
my advice is to avoid getting on any large ocean-going vessels that are advertised as "unsinkable" for the next few months :heh:

hey, i could use another 3 hour movie with a 2+ hour sinking scene! :rolleyes:

[jase71]

Originally posted by NuTs62
time to claim my very own island!:D

I say as soon as it hits international waters, we plant a flag and name it GotApexLand.

There won't even be any natives to oust when we take control.

We'll be the first politically correct nation in the history of the world!

Of course, an internet connection on a floating island might be a little difficult...

[whitak24]

Originally posted by jase71

We'll be the first politically correct nation in the history of the world!

we seem to have a pretty hard time staying politically correct while coexisting here online. i'd think it would be worse when we got o ur own country :hihi:

(unless, of course, you are referring to us being "politically correct" in the sense of not having formed our country on the backs of some group of oppressed natives -- although the penguins might not like having us there :heh: )

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by kb0wwp


I heard it compared to the size of Rhode Island earlier today. Or you could compare it with something 40 miles wide and 53 miles long, covering 2,130 square miles.

Hey wait, my calculator says that 40 x 53 is only 2,120 square miles. Darn Europeans, can't spell "Center", can't spell "Defense" and can't even multiply. it's not perfectly straight in every direction, the extra 10 accounts for bumps and such, in any case it's an approximation

[attgig]

Originally posted by Burzhui
it's not perfectly straight in every direction, the extra 10 accounts for bumps and such, in any case it's an approximation

hahahahahaha
a perfectly square island :P

[jase71]

Originally posted by cpugeek04

i talked to them, they've agreed to move to a little corner and not whine and moan for 50 years

I've heard they all want to leave anyway, and head to New York, where they can get jobs as Linux spokesmodels.

Big money in penguin endorsements these days...

[whitak24]

Originally posted by cpugeek04

i talked to them, they've agreed to move to a little corner and not whine and moan for 50 years
good negotiation work, cpu. keep it up and you can get the title of "official penguin captain" or something :D

[jase71]

Originally posted by whitak24

...the title of "official penguin captain" or something :D

How about Chief Pengiun Wrangler? :P

[Sir_Froggy]

Originally posted by Speedfreak
Centre? :heh:


hehe canadian :hmmhehe:

[NuTs62]

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/TECH/science/05/21/new.iceberg.ap/story.iceberg.d17.jpg

May 21, 2002 Posted: 9:00 PM EDT (0100 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Another new iceberg has broken away from Antarctica, the National Ice Center reported Tuesday.

The berg named D-17 broke off from the Lazarev Ice Shelf, a large sheet of glacial ice and snow extending from the Antarctic mainland into the southeastern Weddell Sea.

The new iceberg is 34.5 miles long and 6.9 miles wide, about the same size as St. Lucia Island in the Caribbean Sea. It was observed on an image collected by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

Icebergs are named for the area quadrant of Antarctica where they appear. D-17 is the 17th berg reported since record keeping began in 1976.

Just last week, an iceberg nearly as large as the Chesapeake Bay _ called C-19 -- broke away from Antarctica, where it is late summer.

In March, another giant berg broke free in an adjacent area. Named B-22, it measured 2,120 square miles, bigger than the state of Delaware. Also in March, a large floating ice shelf in Antarctica collapsed.

However, new measurements indicate the ice in parts of Antarctica is thickening, reversing earlier estimates that the sheet was melting.

Scientists reported in January that new flow measurements for the Ross ice streams indicate some of their movement has slowed or halted, allowing the ice to thicken. Researchers don't know if the thickening is merely part of some short-term fluctuation or represents a reversal of the ice's long retreat.

That report, in the journal Science, came less than a week after a paper in Nature reported that Antarctica's harsh desert valleys _ long considered a bellwether for global climate change -- have grown noticeably cooler since the mid-1980s.

The National Ice Center, based in Suitland, Md., provides worldwide ice analyses and tracking to assist the military and private shippers. It is a joint operation of the Navy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Coast Guard.

Linkage (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/05/21/new.iceberg.ap/index.html)

[Ladogaboy]

Hmm, ever notice how an icecube starts melting more rapidly the smaller it gets?...

[molecularfire]

Yeah, it has to do with the surface area/volume ratio. :)

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by molecularfire
Yeah, it has to do with the surface area/volume ratio. :)

And this doesn't worry anyone? :dodgy:

/me thinks they don't get the connection...

/me gets canoe ready...

[molecularfire]

/me gets canoe ready...

Probably a bit premature. There's about 320,000,000 cubic miles of water in the oceans and only 7,000,000 cubic miles of ice in the ice caps total (around 2.14% of earth's total water). If B-22 was a mile deep, it wouldn't raise the ocean by more than an inch. :shrug:

Water (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mearth.html)

[jase71]

Originally posted by molecularfire

If B-22 was a mile deep, it wouldn't raise the ocean by more than an inch. :shrug:


Even an inch could be interesting in some areas, like Venice or the Netherlands, that are at sea level, or even below it.

Add to that any possible changes in tide heights because of the extra water... it won't be a nice even inch all the way around, it'll be more in some areas, less in others.

Small changes can potentially have big effects...

[molecularfire]

Ah... yes, Chaos theory. :bandit: