A Manhattan sized chunk of ice is about to break free from the largest glacier in the Arctic. This month researchers have descended on the Peterman Glacier, in Greenland, to witness what they believe will be a spectacular event – 5 billion tones of ice breaking free into the sea. Peterman’s huge ice tongue extends over the ocean and it is believed that warmer ocean currents, fueled by global warming, are responsible for the increase in ice flow.
The first signs of this unfolding event were documented last summer by Jason Box of Ohio State University. Box noticed an enormous crack in Peterman’s floating ice tongue, which acts like a giant conveyor belt carrying ice through the fjord and out to sea. The crack extended all the way across the fjord to the other side of the tongue, just over 9 miles. Understanding that this was a remarkable discovery, Box and associates have recently returned to Peterman aboard the Greenpeace research vessel the Arctic Sunrise .
The vessel is equipped with cameras and sensors needed to document the event which the team believes will occur within weeks. Since last year more than 10 cracks have opened up in the giant tongue, some more than 1600 feet wide. Of course ice regularly calves off Peterman’s tongue and is compensated for by snow falling at the top of the glacier. However the sheer size of this potential break, 5 billion tones of ice has researchers concerned. This is well over half the annual flow of ice and it would be occurring in a relative instant. The idea being that losing such a large chunk of ice would in effect uncork the bottle, allowing the ice to flow faster into the ocean and ultimately affecting sea levels.
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