Image - NASA
As we were commenting recently in the blog, the thaw is leaving the Antarctic continent ice-free. In the last two days, what has already been called the world's largest iceberg: the Larsen C platform, which is closely related to the melting of Antarctica and by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of Spain with the possible significant ice loss in the future.
Weighing a trillion tons, all eyes had been on him for a long time. And, what will happen now? For now, Antarctica will no longer look the same; not in vain, has lost more than 12% of its ice areaThis phenomenon of melting ice has become a global concern, especially in relation to the stability of the region, which is also related to the rising temperatures in the Arctic.
The gigantic iceberg, although it had been floating for some time, will not have a direct impact on the sea level; Now scientists are concerned as they have found that the Antarctic ice cover is much less stable than before the crack originated, meaning that new icebergs could form in the short or medium termThis phenomenon is directly related to the Larsen C melting, causing instability in the region, where the climate is changing dramatically and is expected to continue affecting the global climate.
The Larsen C breach had been studied for a long time, since the Larsen A platform collapsed in 1995, and in 2002 Larsen B. During this year, 2017, from January to June the length of the Larsen C crack increased by more than 200km. It remained attached to the continent by a 4,5km-wide thread of ice until it finally broke apart completely between July 10 and 12. This event has been anticipated by many experts, as mentioned in the article analyzing the impact of melting ice on the planet and implies a possible significant loss of ice in the future.
Image - Businessinsider.com
It is not known what will happen from now on; Most likely, the iceberg will break into multiple fragments that could eventually have an impact on sea level. Still, the most worrying thing is that if the global average temperature continues to rise, Antarctica could run out of ice. This worrying phenomenon and its consequences are also discussed in the article on how the The melting of Antarctica poses a danger to humanity, which emphasizes the urgency of addressing climate change.
We owe this sad discovery to the Sentinel-1 satellite of the European Space Agency, which was the one used to monitor the development of the Larsen C fissure in the last year, and to the Aqua MODIS satellite and the Suomi VIRS instrument, both from NASA.
