Manhattan-Size Iceberg Breaks Away from Greenland Glacier
The massive island is 46-square-miles large
Related: Earth

Greenland's Petermann Glacier, which has birthed the massive new iceberg. Photo courtesy of Andreas Muenchow, University of Delaware.
A massive iceberg larger than Manhattan has broken away from the floating end of a Greenland glacier this week, an event scientists predicted last autumn.
The giant ice island is 46 square miles, and separated from the terminus of the Petermann Glacier, one of Greenland's largest.
The Petermann Glacier last birthed - or "calved" - a massive iceberg two years ago, in August 2010. The iceberg that broke off and floated away was nearly four times the size of Manhattan, and one of the largest ever recorded in Greenland.
Related at Our Amazing Planet: Images of Greenland's Dramatic Landscape
Although the new iceberg isn't as colossal as its 2010 predecessor, its birth has moved the front end of the massive glacier farther inland than it has been in 150 years, Andreas Muenchow, an associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware, said in a statement.
Jason Box, a scientist with Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center, has also been monitoring the Petermann Glacier, and in September 2011, he told OurAmazingPlanet that a growing crack likely would sever the glacier once warmer weather took hold during the summer months.
Related at Live Science: Watch an Iceberg Birth from Above
"We can see the crack widening in the past year through satellite pictures, so it seems imminent," Box said at the time.
Muenchow said that the newest ice island broke away on Monday morning (July 16).
Although iceberg birth is a natural, cyclical process, when the process speeds up, there are consequences.
The floating ends of glaciers, known as ice shelves, act as doorstops. When these ice shelves suddenly splinter and weaken or even collapse entirely, as has been observed in Antarctica, the glaciers that feed them speed up, dumping more ice into the ocean and raising global sea levels.
Related at Our Amazing Planet: Tracking a Retreating Glacier
"The Greenland ice sheet as a whole is shrinking, melting and reducing in size as the result of globally changing air and ocean temperatures and associated changes in circulation patterns in both the ocean and atmosphere," Muenchow said.
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It has been proven time and time again that the conservative right has used lies and documented metascarpus to deny human caused climate change . This is a fact known by 98% of all climate scientists throughout the world . Of the other 2% , half of them are paid by right wing think tanks enormous amounts of money to propagate bogus data to disprove the truth . The other half of the climate change deniers are on psycoflatulant suppositories and speak out of the wrong hole . For this , they have my sympathy - but they do not have my agreement .
July 19 2012 at 12:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt has been proven time and time again that the conservative right has used lies and documented metascarpus to deny man caused climate change . This is a fact know by 98% of all climate scientists throughout the world . Of the other 2% , half of them are paid by right wing think tanks enormous amounts of money to propagate bogus data to disprove the truth . The other half of the climate change deniers are on psycoflatulant suppositories and speak out of the wrong hole . For this , they have my sypathy - but they do not have my agreement .
July 19 2012 at 12:28 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyEvery person who thinks they can predict the future are not crazy. There is no chance that there will be a serious global cooling affecting the planet some time in the next 100 years. Much of North America will be covered by desert again in 1000 years . Scientists truly know, but a lot of Republicans think they know - but in fact , they know they are pitiful.
July 19 2012 at 12:18 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down ReplyEverything is cyclical except the current problems caused by man made climate change, and the earth always has been. Humans are the culprits here, it is a not a natural phenomenon mostly caused by the sun. i am 60 years old, and in my life time,, the weather is much hotter now than when I was a child. We used to have Orange groves here, not now,, it is too hot for them.
July 19 2012 at 12:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThousands more icebergs calve off of Greenland into the Baffin and Labrador seas every year now than they did in the past years . In the Antarctic, the ice breaks off in great sheets, hundreds of miles on a side - all because of man made climate change . The Republican puppets are talking out of their sphincters .
July 19 2012 at 12:11 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down ReplyJust ask the crabbing Captains on "Deadliest Catch" if there was more or less polar ice this past winter. It shrunk further north than it had in decades. Please believe all of what the global warming alarmists say and don't believe the corporate shills and Racist Republicans that deny it , they are proven liars time and time again .
July 19 2012 at 12:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGlobal Warming disbelievers sound like religious fanatics who think the Earth will come to no harm in their lifetime. Over the past 4 billion years, the Earth has never gone through a time like we now are .The Vikings who lived in an area of Greenland that had previously been covered by ice now is desert. Here in Seattle, WA, there was thousands of glaciers only a few years ago; most of it melted because of human influence.
July 19 2012 at 12:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAverage global temperatures have actually gone up 2 degrees F in the last 10 years. In 1998-99, Mount Baker in WA State has had most of its glaciers melt. Anyone who does'nt believe all of the hype about global warming is extremely naive. Scientists on the global warming bandwagon account for 98% of all scientists but because there are billions of dollars to be made 2% are paid to deny it . Racist / Republicans deny climate change to make money at the expense of the poor and downtrodden . It is the same as conservative Republicans using terrorism to frighten naive "sheeple". Please don't believe anything the Republican politicians tell you. They're all liars - you can take that to the bank.
Change is inevitable ....Let things be , let things be
July 18 2012 at 7:17 PM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down ReplyGlobal Warming alarmists sound like religious fanatics who think the Earth will come to an end in their lifetime. Over the past 4 billion years, the Earth has gone through millions of "warm" and "cold" periods. 900 years ago, there were actually people called Vikings who lived in an area of Greenland that had previously been covered by ice. In fact, here in Seattle, WA, there was 11,000 feet of ice as recently as 15,000 years ago; all of it melted without any human influence.
July 18 2012 at 6:51 PM Report abuse Permalink +3 rate up rate down ReplyAverage global temperatures have actually gone down .02 degrees F in the last 10 years. In 1998-99, Mount Baker in WA State accumulated over 95 feet of snow, a world record for snow depth. Anyone who believes all of the hype about global warming is extremely naive. Scientists jump on the global warming bandwagon only because there are billions of dollars to be made. Liberal Democrats use climate change to scare people so that they can be controlled. It is the same as conservative Republicans using terrorism to frighten naive "sheeple". Don't believe anything the politicians tell you. They're all liars.
Despite conflicting data on climate change one thing is clear, the drought currently affecting the nation is going to inconvenience many who struggle to provide food to their families already. Another thing is clear, the spread of West Nile virus and other diseases into areas previously unaffected will cause suffering and death. Regardless of how and why, people will grow ill and die, plants and animals will become stressed and possibly there will be increased levels of extinction in these species. Regardless of cause, people should still have some heightened level of concern over these things. Also, 15000 years ago there were not 8 billion humans mucking about on the planet and adding to the climate's variability. So when two miles of ice covered the area that would one day become northern Washington state...no one gave a ****.
July 18 2012 at 7:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMust be that global cooling.
July 18 2012 at 6:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply