An iceberg five times larger than the size of Manhattan has just jumped from Antarctica to the West

While the Internet was obsessed with this rectangular iceberg, more bewildering behavior of ice fell on the other side of the Antarctic.

The Pine Island Glacier has broken monstrous icebergs over the past five years, a disturbing sign of the destabilization of West Antarctica. The last one took place this weekend. The satellite images show an iceberg of about 115 square miles – five times the size of Manhattan – separating from the glacier.

In comparison, Stef Lhermitte, remote sensing expert at TU Delft, said Further The tabular iceberg of viral internet fame is probably less than a square mile. Wake up, sheep.

"What's most remarkable about this event is that calving frequency seems to be increasing," Lhermitte said of the big berg that broke away from Pine Island Glacier. In the 2000s, iceberg calvings of this magnitude occurred approximately every five years. But since 2013, there have been four calvings, including one last year.

Icebergs are regularly detached from glaciers because they are gigantic rivers of ice. When the ice moves upstream towards the sea, it puts enormous pressure on the ice, causing the icebergs to disappear.

But what has happened at the Pine Island Glacier in recent years could be a sign that flow is increasing. Satellite images collected by Lhermitte show that the farrowing front has slowly declined for decades before starting a brutal recession in recent years, including a 5 km reduction since 2015 alone.

All this activity has helped make Pine Island Glacier the fastest retreating glacier on Earth. In addition to the decline in the calving area, the ice has weakened by about one meter per year over the last 15 years and has lost 45 billion tonnes per year. Much of this is caused by the hot water that gnaws from below.

If the disintegration continues, it could result in "instability of the offshore ice cliff", in which the ice walls on the farrowing front will grow more and more due to the downward slope of the underlying bedrock.

This should make the remaining ice more flickering, such as a constantly growing Jenga tower, and could lead to an even faster breakup of glaciers, which would cause sea level rise.

"The changes in the GIP in terms of mass loss and sea ice retreat may be more important for future sea-level rise because the PIG (and Thwaites) region is the largest in the world. one of the potential hotspots for future mass loss of Antarctica, "said Lhermitte, referring to the glacier by its acronym as well as Thwaites, its neighbor next door.

So forget about the 'freakberg & # 39; and keep your eyes on the real drama.