PIG Calves a Massive Iceberg

Pine Island glacier (PIG) spawns a huge iceberg in the Antarctic

The iceberg measures about 720 sq km, or eight times the size of Manhattan Island, said a report.

Credit DLR – Image taken by TerraSAR-X, Germany’s Earth-observation satellite.

The large crack spreading across the “longest and fastest flowing glacier” in the west Antarctic was first observed in October 2011.

“The PIG is the most rapidly shrinking glacier on the planet,” said a researcher.

“It’s losing more ice than any other glacier on the planet, and it’s contributing to sea level rise faster than any other glacier on the planet.”

The speed of Pine Island Glacier increased by 73 percent between 1974 and  2007. As a result, PIG had a negative mass balance of 46 gigatons per year, that is the glacier system drained more water into the sea than replaced by snowfall, researchers say.

Collapse Headlines – 12 July 2010

Rising sea forcing Panama islanders to evacuate

“Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low-lying Caribbean islands.” —Report

Carti Sugdub an island in an archipelago off Panama’s northeastern coast, home to 32,000 semi-autonomous Kuna people, has become mostly uninhabitable as as rising sea, storms and high tides combine to submerge it in ankle-deep water for most of the year. More…

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Soon All The ‘Paradise’ Would Be Lost!

Image of the Day:

Tikehau Atoll, French Polynesia

The islands and coral atolls of French Polynesia, located in the southern Pacific Ocean … This image from the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite shows the southern part of Tikehau Atoll, one of the 78 coral atolls that make up the Tuamotu Archipelago. Patches of coral make star-like spots across the turquoise expanse of the lagoon. A line of tree-covered islets encircles the lagoon. At the southernmost tip of the atoll, a large islet accommodates a small village and an air strip. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey. [Image was reportedly acquired June 30,2009.]

Tikehau Atoll (Full View) magnified image [dated 2005] is available at Google earth  15º 07′ 13 ” S, 148º 13′ 56″ W.

FEWW estimates that human activity emitted about 222 times more CO2 in 2008 than the total sum of  all carbon dioxide spewed from volcanic eruptions that year.

Related Links:

• FEWW CO2e Links
• Our Oceans