A video provided by the National Weather Service office in Juneau, Alaska, shows scientists flying above the Mendenhall Glacier on Tuesday, Aug. 12, before the glacial lake outburst flooding.
GREENLAND – An icy discovery was made by an international research team as they found that a large ice island, the size of Manhattan, had formed as a result of a glacier break.
An international research team at the University of Ottawa reported that a chunk of the Peterman Glacier, over 45 miles long, broke apart, creating a large ice island the size of Manhattan in New York City.
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This marks the largest loss of floating ice since 2012, as the rare Arctic island is nearly 500 feet thick.
Satellite imagery of the Peterman Glacier.
(Adam Garbo / University of Ottawa)
Experts have been monitoring changes in the glacier since 2019 and have expected the break to happen for the last few years, noting it won’t be the last either.
Being able to observe and study the partial cracks and breakage of the glacier allows for a better understanding of the processes that shape glacier retreat, ocean conditions and ice hazards in polar regions, according to the Department of Geography at the University of Ottawa.
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PETERMANN GLACIER, GREENLAND – JULY 19, 2012: This is a satellite image of a massive iceberg calving from the Petermann Glacier in Greenland, collected on July 19, 2012.
(DigitalGlobe / Getty Images)
Two more chunks of ice are expected to detach from the glacier soon, reducing its size by about 22%.
According to NASA, the ice shrinks by 150 to 180 gigatons a year on average (a gigaton is one billion metric tons).
The Peterman Glacier on July 5, 2003.
(NASA)
These chunks of ice can float for years, posing hazards to vessels and marine environments.
Experts will continue to monitor the development of the Peterman Glacier and the chunks of ice that break away by using satellite imagery.
