NASA photos capture a strange new crack in a massive Greenland glacier and we're all probably doomed
When ice shelves break off into icebergs it doesn't directly increase sea levels, because the ice is already floating in the ocean, like an ice cube in a glass.
However, because the ice shelves act like doorstops to the land-based ice behind them, if the shelves disappear, the glaciers can start moving into the sea. This would add new water to the ocean and therefore raise sea levels.
Published on Apr 17, 2017
Nasa captures first images of a 'worrying' new crack that has appeared on one of Greenland's largest glaciers
References: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
Thanks to: NASA for video
Sound: bensound.com
References: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
Thanks to: NASA for video
Sound: bensound.com
In the case of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier, researchers said that warming waters causing cracks to form beneath "provides another mechanism for rapid retreat of these glaciers, adding to the probability that we may see significant collapse of West Antarctica in our lifetimes."
Greenland, Antarctica, the message is we're all probably doomed.
Scientists just found a strange and worrying crack in one of Greenland's biggest glaciers - Alaska Dispatch News
Scientists examining satellite images of one of Greenland's largest glaciers believe they have found an unexpected new crack in its floating ice shelf that could contribute to a dramatic break in coming years.
The Petermann glacier, located in the high Arctic at 80 degrees North latitude, is one of the most important outlets by which the Greenland ice sheet extends and flows into the sea. In 2010 and 2012 (see photo), it lost extremely large pieces, each several times the size of Manhattan, from its ice shelf, which floats on top of the waters of a fjord whose depth exceeds that of the Grand Canyon.
These changes captured the world's attention – and greatly shrank this floating shelf that stabilizes the glacier by attaching to the walls of the fjord in which it lies. That's a big deal because Petermann glacier holds back about a foot of potential sea level rise from the Greenland ice sheet.
Since the drama of 2010 and 2012, another large crack has begun to open and stretch towards the center of Petermann's ice shelf – which suggests the shelf could lose another large "ice island" soon.
That's bad enough, but this week Stef Lhermitte, a researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands who studies Greenland using satellites, posted images suggesting the development of a second and different sort of crack, one that could potentially link up with the first one.
That's bad enough, but this week Stef Lhermitte, a researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands who studies Greenland using satellites, posted images suggesting the development of a second and different sort of crack, one that could potentially link up with the first one.
Scientists just found a strange and worrying crack in one of Greenland's biggest glaciers - Alaska Dispatch News
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-photos-capture-strange-crack-135225749.html
See Also:
Antarctica Splitting in Half-Strange Events Detected Worldwide
https://globalrumblings.blogspot.com/2017/04/antarctica-splitting-in-half-strange.html'via Blog this'
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