Huge Antarctic ice block set to break off: scientists
PARIS (AFP) -
A massive ice block nearly 100 times the area of Manhattan is poised to break off Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf, scientists reported Friday.
A slow-progressing rift suddenly grew by 18 kilometres (11 miles) at the end of December, leaving the finger-shaped chunk -- 350 metres thick -- connected along only a small fraction of its length.
The rift has also widened, from less than 50 metres (160 feet) in 2011 to nearly 500 metres today.
"If it doesn't go in the next few months, I'll be amazed," said Adrian Luckman, a professor at Swansea University in Wales, and leader of Britain's Project Midas, which tracks changes in West Antarctic ice formations.
By itself, the soon-to-be iceberg will not add to sea levels, the likely consequence of ice sheet disintegration that most worries scientists.
The real danger is from inland glaciers, held in place by the floating, cliff-like ice shelves that straddle land and sea.
The fragile West Antarctic ice sheet -- where Larsen C is located -- holds enough frozen water to raise global oceans by at least four metres (13 feet).
http://www.france24.com/en/20170106-huge-antarctic-ice-block-set-break-off-scientists