Giant crack in Antarctic ice sheet

[whisker]

A massive crack is growing wider in the Antarctic ice sheet and could break apart in the coming months, forming an iceberg the size of New York City, NASA scientists warned on Thursday.

The crack in western Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier stretches for at least 18 miles (30 kilometers) and runs 165 feet (50 meters) deep.

The rift is widening at a rate of 6.5 feet (two meters) per day, said NASA project scientist Michael Studinger.

When the ice breaks apart, it will produce an iceberg more than 340 square miles (880 square kilometers), said Studinger, who is part of the US space agency's IceBridge project.

Read More:

uk.news.yahoo.com/giant-crack-glimpsed-antarctic-ice-sheet-031722304.html

Thanks to Yahoo! ;D

[penny]

This will be a cool (no pun intended) story to follow!

[whisker]

LOL! Seems we have a wealth of puns on VG this morning!

[elaine]

This will be very interesting to see, but sad at the same time, as it shows global warming on a huge scale. I love following stories like this.

[joebert]

Now we can see them but years ago we couldn't. So I think this is part of the natural process. Global warming isn't helping but that's how all the other iceburgs get formed too. On the good side it lets the penguins float to warmer waters.