Sunday, April 5, 2009

The ice chunk coming off Antarctica

It might be the size of Rhode Island.


"An Antarctic ice shelf is at risk of losing a chunk the size of Rhode Island after a retaining ice bridge began to break up....As much as 3,700 square kilometers of ice shelf may break off as a result, said Angelika Humbert, a glaciologist at Muenster University in Germany. "
Well, if the 3,700 km² figure is accurate, that's pretty close to RI's 4,002 km² - the problem here is varying reports about the size of the ice chunk that has now, actually, broken off. Most other reports suggest that the ice chunk is " is roughly the size of Jamaica," (Jamaica being 11,100 km²) "is about the size of Connecticut" (14,356 km²), or, more exotically (and even harder for most people to picture) "almost half the size of Wales" (10,365 km²) depending on who you read.
It's all too depressing anyway.
Link to Dallas News - why would they be measuring in Rhode Islands, anyway?

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