Information has been received that the iceberg of huge size was already ready to break away from Antarctica. This became possible due to an increase in the crack formed on a shelf glacier called Pine Island, and the process progresses to this day. At the moment, the length of the crack is 243 meters, and the depth in some places is about 55 meters.
The other day, scientists were able to find a new break on the surface of Pine Island, and all thanks to the German satellite Terrasar-X. According to NASA experts, who directly monitor changes in the behavior of the glacier, insist that this is a completely normal process, but it, certainly, should be kept under control. According to preliminary estimates, when the glacier is split, an iceberg is formed, the size of which will be equated to the size of the city of New York.
Cracking can be traced in photographs that were taken in November last year by the NASA research aircraft. They were published in February this year. At the time when the photograph was taken, its length was 28 kilometers.
For reference: Pine Island is a huge glacier that is spread from the foot of the Hudson mountains to the sea of Amundsen. Its total length is 50 kilometers. Pine Island is a component of the ice shield of Western Antarctica. In 2001, a large iceberg had already broken off him.
Note that until the fall of 2011, no one had evidence that the shelf glacier began to break up. But thanks to the NASA aircraft, this happened and the evidence was obtained. A scientist with special zeal studies Pine Island, since he attracts them both the size and his instability. They even called it the largest source of uncertainty when working on predicting growth in the level of the oceans.
