A massive iceberg weighing 315 billion tons has broken away from the Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
The giant piece of ice has a surface of 1,636 square kilometers (245 square miles) and D-28 is the largest iceberg to calve from the continent in more than half a century. But the calving is not linked to climate change say scientists.
For comparison, this giant iceberg has the size of Greater London or urban Sydney. Pretty amazing, no?
Experts remind us that such calving events are perfectly normal, and it’s unlikely related to climate change.
Now updated with the correct date labels in the gif pic.twitter.com/KxMzpBW2BI
— Stef Lhermitte (@StefLhermitte) September 30, 2019
D-28 is about 210 meters (690 feet) thick and contains approximately 315 billion tons of ice:
The iceberg is ~210 m thick and contains ~315 Gt of ice. That is a lot of ice!
— Helen Amanda Fricker (@helenafricker) September 30, 2019
This part of the iceberg shelf was first spotted by researchers in 2002 and those monitoring it have been anticipating the calving for years. It was originally thought that the iceberg would break off sometime between 2010 and 2015.
The moment many of us have been waiting for: Amery Ice Shelf’s “Loose Tooth” finally calves an iceberg. Didn’t quite predict this one right back in 2002, only 4 years off! https://t.co/pqw4VeVyH2 Thanks to@NASA_ICE
— Helen Amanda Fricker (@helenafricker) September 30, 2019
for the imagery! https://t.co/PxErcwLKPl
Calving Not Related To Climate Change But To Healthy Life Cycle
This is no argument for climate change activists. No, this calving is part of the healthy ice shelf cycle as stated by the scientist:
Important to remember that this calving event is part of a healthy ice shelf cycle. https://t.co/pCCvlL0bWb
— Helen Amanda Fricker (@helenafricker) September 30, 2019
As stated in a Guardian article of 2017, the same reknown glaciologist continues:
“Glaciologists are not alarmed about most of these processes; they are examples of Antarctica simply doing what we know Antarctica has done for thousands of years. It’s only because there’s a potential link between climate changes and the Antarctic ice sheet every crack or melt stream becomes news.”
and adds:
“The situation is a conundrum: we want people to be aware of Antarctica and concerned about what might happen there in the near future as climate changes,” she wrote. “But hyping research results to sound like climate change, when they are just improved understanding of natural behavior, is misleading.”
Yes it is Fake News.
Amery Ice Shelf drains about 16 percent of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and deposits ice into the ocean through the natural, cyclical process of iceberg calving – a process that can take decades to complete. So please climate alarmists just don’t take this latest gigantic calving in Antarctica as a proof for climate change, because it isn’t. [Stef Lhermitte, IFLScience]
