Monster iceberg wreaks havoc in Antarctic

[Minstrel Boy]

Monster iceberg wreaks havoc in Antarctic

Last Updated Thu, 20 Jan 2005 14:22:34 EST
CBC News

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - The world's largest iceberg seems to have run aground near Antarctica, threatening to block supply ships from scientific bases and starve tens of thousands of penguins.

Experts had predicted that B15A – which measures 3,000 square kilometres, about half the size of Prince Edward Island – would likely slam into a huge glacier floating near McMurdo Sound by last weekend.

...

But the iceberg's progress toward the Drygalski Ice Tongue has slowed, leading scientists to speculate Thursday that it is hooked in shallow waters about five kilometres offshore.

...

If the massive iceberg turns out to be grounded, it could cause serious problems for scientific bases on the continent, including three research bases at McMurdo Sound run by the United States, New Zealand and Italy. The monster iceberg – which measures 160 kilometres along one side – has already blocked water currents and winds that break up ice floes during the Antarctic summer, plugging the narrow stretch of sea.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/01/20/iceberg-050120.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. starve tens of thousands of penguins!

:cry:

[dbt]

2. It's true!

Everytime you inaugurate a bu$h, God kills ten thousand penguins.

:hi:
dbt

[seemslikeadream]

8. dbt, you are so bad

:hi: :hug:

[THUNDER HANDS]

3. poor Mario Lemeaux

first the hockey strike, now his team starves. :(

[TahitiNut]

4. That's a great photo of "Daddy Day Care".

:thumbsup:

[seemslikeadream]

6. This is my favorite thing about penguins

Those birds can fly under water!

[TahitiNut]

11. That's what I feel like when I scuba dive.

It's like flying over the surface of different world.

[Octafish]

13. That's what I look like when I do anything.

LOL!

[central scrutinizer]

15. where will Opus get his squid entrails?

<>

[Dinger]

5. Reminds Me Of "The Day After Tomorrow" (nt)

[Minstrel Boy]

9. Funny how often that happens these days.

Letting the climate change on purpose?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2977663

[GregW]

7. In case you're wondering what a 100 mi iceberg looks like ...

(It's the big flat thing in the lower right)

[Whoa_Nelly]

10. Another pic

Iceberg B-15A was the largest iceberg in the world (measuring about 11,000 square kilometers) when it broke away from Western Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000. It held that distinction for over three years until splitting into two pieces in early October, 2003. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) acquired these views of the new iceberg B-15J (resting against Ross Island) and B-15A (now free to drift into the Southern Ocean) on October 26, 2003.

The two images provide information on both the spectral and angular reflectance properties of ice types in the region. The left-hand panel is a false-color view from MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera in which near-infrared, red and blue spectral data are displayed as red, green and blue, respectively. Because of the tendency of water to absorb near-infrared wavelengths, some ice types exhibit an especially bright blue hue in this display. The right-hand panel is a multi-angular composite from three MISR cameras, in which color acts as a proxy for angular reflectance variations related to texture. Here, data from the red-band of MISR's 60° forward-viewing, nadir, and 60° backward-viewing cameras are displayed as red, green and blue, respectively. In the southern latitudes, MISR's backward-pointing cameras receive a stronger signal from surfaces that predominantly forward scatter sunlight (these tend to be smooth surfaces), and MISR's forward-pointing cameras receive a stronger signal from surfaces that predominantly backscatter sunlight (these tend to be rougher surfaces). Thus, the colors in this representation highlight textural properties of elements within the scene, with blue tones indicating smoother surfaces and red/orange hues indicating rougher surfaces.

http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/HPDOCS/misr/misr_html/iceberg_b15a_split.html

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. WOW ! n/t

[Theres-a]

14. I don't go for fancy cars,diamond rings,or movie stars,oh no,I go for

PENGUINS.:silly:

[54anickel]

19. Hey, I love that song!!! Used to sing it to folks in my Linux training

sessions. :hi:

[Theres-a]

20. Throw your money out the door and sit around and watch it snow

:hi:

[V Lee]

16. GW (Global Warming) Bush - Penguin Killer!!!

[Whoa_Nelly]

17. Satellite video play of this iceberg--animated

Check this out here:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002800/a002839/index.html

Animation zooms down to the area where iceberg B-15A split in two between 10/7/03 and 10/9/03. McMurdo Station can be seen on the final frame of this animation. McMurdo Station is towards the top of the image, and appears as a white dot with 4 lines (runways/roads) branching off it.

[MichiganVote]

18. Cool stuff. Thanks