What happened to the Petermann iceberg?
An iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken away from the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland. Images from a Nasa satellite show the island breaking off a tongue of ice that extends at the end of the glacier. In 2010 an ice island measuring 250 square km (100 square miles) broke off the same glacier.
What happened to the Petermann Glacier on Aug 5 2010?
On August 5, 2010, an enormous chunk of ice, roughly 97 square miles (251 square kilometers) in size, broke off the Petermann Glacier along the northwestern coast of Greenland. Icebergs calving off the Petermann Glacier are not unusual.
Is the Jakobshavn Glacier growing?
New NASA data shows that Jakobshavn Glacier — Greenland’s fastest-moving and fastest-thinning glacier for most of the 2000s — grew from 2018 into 2019, marking three consecutive years of growth. The glacier grew 22 to 33 yards (20 to 30 meters) each year between 2016 and 2019.
What causes glacier calving?
The calving process begins when a rift opens in the edge of a glacier, caused by wind or water erosion, melting ice, or other events that cause the glacier to become unstable. It’s these chunks of ice that raise sea levels because they used to be on the land and are now melting and breaking off into the ocean.
How much of the Greenland ice sheet has melted?
From September 1968 to August 2021, the Greenland ice sheet has lost around 5,500 gigatons of ice — equivalent to 1.5 centimeters of global average sea level rise.
What was the peak discharge on August 14 2002?
Lake height reached 15 m asl before intense rains caused lake water to overtop the moraine dam on 14 August 2002. Three cubic kilometers of water were released within 30 hours, with peak discharge reaching 55,000 m3 s−1 24 hours after the flood began.
How big is the Petermann iceberg?
This detailed image reveals that the iceberg covers an area of about 32.3 square kilometers (12.5 square miles). ASTER combines infrared, red, and green wavelengths of light to make false-color images that help to distinguish between water and land.
How old is the Jakobshavn Glacier?
Studied for over 250 years, the Jakobshavn Glacier has helped develop modern understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology….
| Jakobshavn Glacier | |
|---|---|
| Area | 110 000 km2 (whole catchment) |
| Length | greater than 65 km. |
| Thickness | around 2000 m |
| Terminus | Ocean (was floating now grounded) |
How fast is the Jakobshavn Glacier?
A large Greenland glacier named Jakobshavn Isbrae—40 miles long and more than a mile thick—was observed racing into the sea at a rate of more than 10 miles (17 kilometers) per year during 2012. It reached its top speed during the warm summer months, traveling 150 feet (46 meters) per day, faster than any known glacier.
Is glacier calving normal?
The breaking off of icebergs, known as calving, is a normal part of the life of a glacier-fed ice shelf, even when the icebergs calved are massive. When a large iceberg calves off an ice shelf in a stable glacier-fed ice shelf system, the lost ice is replaced over the course of years to decades by continuing outflow.
What happens when glaciers break?
Icebergs are chunks of glacial ice that break off glaciers and fall into the ocean. When glaciers melt, because that water is stored on land, the runoff significantly increases the amount of water in the ocean, contributing to global sea level rise.
What is under the ice in Greenland?
Scientists have found at least two likely meteor craters buried beneath the ice. Both are in northwest Greenland: One sits below Hiawatha Glacier, while the other is 114 miles (183 km) away from the first. The second crater is 22 miles (36 km) across, making it the 22nd-largest impact crater ever found on Earth.