Trillion ton iceberg prepares to break off Antarctica
A chunk of ice nearly as big as Shanghai may break off of Antarctica at any moment.
The European Space Agency is using a satellite to monitor the Larsen C Ice formation. A 200 kilometer long crack in the sheet of ice has deepened and is ready to give way entirely, launching one of the largest icebergs on record into the ocean.
Researchers say it’s a result of a changing climate that is altering the polar environments.
“As you can see the glacier no longer ends in the sea, now we have beach. Twenty or 30 years ago those beaches didn’t exist, the glacier was falling directly to the sea. In other words there has been a glacial retreat, probably a consequence of the climate change and the rise of temperature in this region.”, said Rodolfo Sanchez the Director of the Argentine Antarctic Institute.
Lonnie Hartley